Leftists Become Training Data: Reddit Sells User Content to AI Company for $60 Million

Reddit, which bills itself as “the front page of the internet” is reportedly selling access to user-generated content to an unnamed AI company for $60 million annually, fueling ethical concerns as the social media platform prepares for its potential $5 billion IPO.

Ars Technica reports that Reddit has signed a major deal allowing an unnamed artificial intelligence company to access and utilize user-generated content from the platform for AI training purposes, according to a recent report. This development comes as Reddit prepares for an expected initial public offering (IPO) that may happen as soon as next month.

The deal is said to be worth $60 million per year. While the AI firm was not named, this agreement could set a precedent for similar deals between Reddit and major AI players like OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed creator of ChatGPT.

If the deal goes through as reported, Reddit user content may be used to train the next generation of AI models that can generate text, images and video.

Reddit’s leadership had revealed plans last year to charge AI companies for using decades of user contributions available on the platform. Selling access to user data aligns with a trend of tech firms licensing content rather than scraping data without permission.

While the ethics may be debatable, Reddit stands to gain financially from this AI deal. The contract could boost the valuation of Reddit’s upcoming IPO, reportedly worth up to $5 billion.

Reddit generated over $800 million in revenue in 2023 despite recent controversies. The AI deal and impending IPO could significantly increase the company’s valuation and revenue. The site faced a user rebellion in 2023 over site policies like API access, and has faced long-term controversies over its censorship and extreme left-wing rules and guidelines.

It remains to be seen how Reddit users will react to their content being sold for AI development without direct consent or compensation. But for now, Reddit appears to be capitalizing on AI hype as it prepares to go public.

Read more at Ars Technica here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.