Reported $60M Reddit deal signed to train AI models with user data
(2024/02/20)
- Reference: 1708464191
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/20/reddit_content_ai_deal/
- Source link:
Reddit has reportedly signed a $60 million deal with an unnamed AI biz to hand over user conversations for model training.
The deal comes as Reddit looks to boost interest in its upcoming IPO. Reddit [1]reportedly told prospective investors about the $60 million contract earlier this year, and indicated that its execs may repeat this type of content-sharing-for-model-training deal in the future.
Bloomberg, citing "people familiar with the matter," noted that both the stock market debut and AI deal details are subject to change and the site's [2]expected listing might now happen as soon as March. Reddit did not immediately respond to The Register 's inquiries.
[3]
The site's users, on the other hand, had plenty to say about the rumored $60 million deal. Comments ranged from " [4]Reddit is asking WAY too little " to [5]why would anyone pay tens of millions of dollars for 'shitposts' and "obscure horror artwork."
[6]Thar be safe harbor: Reddit defeats third attempt to unmask digital pirates
[7]Reddit confirms BlackCat gang pinched some data
[8]Thousands of subreddits go dark in mega-protest over Reddit's app-killing API prices
[9]Everyone's suing AI over text and pics. But music? You ain't seen nothing yet
More cynical posters recalled Reddit's plan to [10]charge for API access , which led to a limited user revolt and some forums going private or shutting down. As well as making third-party apps pay to interact with the platform – [11]ensuring Reddit either makes money directly from those outside apps or from ads shown in its own offerings – the new pricing was a way to [12]cash in on AI model makers scraping the site for training data.
It's well-known that Reddit posts and/or submitted links have been used to [13]train neural networks, including [14]OpenAI's GPT-2 , in the past.
[15]
"Good to know that Reddit's API clampdown was never because they wanted to protect your data from AI usage," one user [16]noted . "They were just protecting it from unpaid AI usage. Welcome to the dullest cyberpunk hell."
Reddit wouldn't be the first outfit to offer user-generated training data to AI players, and presumably that sharing is covered in the terms and conditions of use. While [17]fighting off claims of [18]copyright infringement regarding the use of books and published journalism in training its family of super-models, OpenAI has [19]secured licensing agreements with the Associated Press and Axel Springer, and is [20]reportedly in talks with CNN, Fox, and Time expressly to use these media orgs' articles for training.
[21]
However, while Reddit's a superb time suck for burrowing deep into obscure rabbit holes about things like [22]grilled cheese sandwiches and [23]screaming fish , it's still a truckload of opinion and personal experiences that may or may not reflect reality. We're not sure we'd use all of it for building a definitive language model.
As one Reddit user [24]put it : "Gonna be one hell of a stupid AI." ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-16/reddit-is-said-to-sign-ai-content-licensing-deal-ahead-of-ipo
[2] https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/reddit-seeks-launch-ipo-march-sources-2024-01-18/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1auu37t/how_do_you_feel_about_reddit_selling_user_data_to/
[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/1av4ris/reddit_about_to_license_their_entire_user/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/13/reddit_pirates_win/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/20/reddit_confirms_blackcat_extortion_attempt/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/12/reddit_api_outage/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/copyright_music_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/12/reddit_api_outage/
[11] https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/143ie0x/what_is_reddits_rational_for_effectively_shutting/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/reddit_charging_ai_api/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/07/microsoft_pg13_chatbot/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/05/ai_racist_sexist/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1av1mba/reddit_sells_training_data_to_unnamed_ai_company/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/tremblay_vs_openai_claims_dismissed/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/copyright_music_ai/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/12/senate_committee_ai_journalism/
[20] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-10/openai-in-talks-with-cnn-fox-and-time-to-license-content
[21] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[22] https://www.reddit.com/r/grilledcheese/
[23] https://www.reddit.com/r/screamingfish/
[24] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1avfz8c/reddit_sells_training_data_to_unnamed_ai_company/
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The deal comes as Reddit looks to boost interest in its upcoming IPO. Reddit [1]reportedly told prospective investors about the $60 million contract earlier this year, and indicated that its execs may repeat this type of content-sharing-for-model-training deal in the future.
Bloomberg, citing "people familiar with the matter," noted that both the stock market debut and AI deal details are subject to change and the site's [2]expected listing might now happen as soon as March. Reddit did not immediately respond to The Register 's inquiries.
[3]
The site's users, on the other hand, had plenty to say about the rumored $60 million deal. Comments ranged from " [4]Reddit is asking WAY too little " to [5]why would anyone pay tens of millions of dollars for 'shitposts' and "obscure horror artwork."
[6]Thar be safe harbor: Reddit defeats third attempt to unmask digital pirates
[7]Reddit confirms BlackCat gang pinched some data
[8]Thousands of subreddits go dark in mega-protest over Reddit's app-killing API prices
[9]Everyone's suing AI over text and pics. But music? You ain't seen nothing yet
More cynical posters recalled Reddit's plan to [10]charge for API access , which led to a limited user revolt and some forums going private or shutting down. As well as making third-party apps pay to interact with the platform – [11]ensuring Reddit either makes money directly from those outside apps or from ads shown in its own offerings – the new pricing was a way to [12]cash in on AI model makers scraping the site for training data.
It's well-known that Reddit posts and/or submitted links have been used to [13]train neural networks, including [14]OpenAI's GPT-2 , in the past.
[15]
"Good to know that Reddit's API clampdown was never because they wanted to protect your data from AI usage," one user [16]noted . "They were just protecting it from unpaid AI usage. Welcome to the dullest cyberpunk hell."
Reddit wouldn't be the first outfit to offer user-generated training data to AI players, and presumably that sharing is covered in the terms and conditions of use. While [17]fighting off claims of [18]copyright infringement regarding the use of books and published journalism in training its family of super-models, OpenAI has [19]secured licensing agreements with the Associated Press and Axel Springer, and is [20]reportedly in talks with CNN, Fox, and Time expressly to use these media orgs' articles for training.
[21]
However, while Reddit's a superb time suck for burrowing deep into obscure rabbit holes about things like [22]grilled cheese sandwiches and [23]screaming fish , it's still a truckload of opinion and personal experiences that may or may not reflect reality. We're not sure we'd use all of it for building a definitive language model.
As one Reddit user [24]put it : "Gonna be one hell of a stupid AI." ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-16/reddit-is-said-to-sign-ai-content-licensing-deal-ahead-of-ipo
[2] https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/reddit-seeks-launch-ipo-march-sources-2024-01-18/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1auu37t/how_do_you_feel_about_reddit_selling_user_data_to/
[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/1av4ris/reddit_about_to_license_their_entire_user/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/13/reddit_pirates_win/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/20/reddit_confirms_blackcat_extortion_attempt/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/12/reddit_api_outage/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/copyright_music_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/12/reddit_api_outage/
[11] https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/143ie0x/what_is_reddits_rational_for_effectively_shutting/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/reddit_charging_ai_api/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/07/microsoft_pg13_chatbot/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/05/ai_racist_sexist/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1av1mba/reddit_sells_training_data_to_unnamed_ai_company/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/tremblay_vs_openai_claims_dismissed/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/08/copyright_music_ai/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/12/senate_committee_ai_journalism/
[20] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-10/openai-in-talks-with-cnn-fox-and-time-to-license-content
[21] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZdUvGBEIf6kVi0iAxoNQswAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[22] https://www.reddit.com/r/grilledcheese/
[23] https://www.reddit.com/r/screamingfish/
[24] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1avfz8c/reddit_sells_training_data_to_unnamed_ai_company/
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Gonna be one hell of a stupid AI
Anonymous Coward
So we's kin all get alongs with it ok, not like them thair fancy-pants hi'-falutin' city folk style AI.
Yeehaw.
How everything hasn't changed ...
In the years before the Internet existed this situation was almost universally defined by:
"The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs a lot less." .
A quote that I was presented with in high school and the entire class of boys were all asked to write an essay that evening that defined the reasoning but it was school so we were told to look at the normal working and buying environment without any reference to the sex joke in Brendan Behan's original Irish quote. The teacher told us that we all needed to think twice about everything, not just leap into the first thought.
Like so many of Behan's statements it might make you laugh but is a real laughing description of an environment that we have all had to live in all our lives but originally most of us only got a 50% score for our essays, but that helped me learn a lot ever since then, and try and think twice about most things..