this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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516
Reddit user content being sold to AI company in $60M/year deal (9to5mac.com)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
62 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Reddit user content being sold to AI company in $60M/year deal::It’s being reported that a deal has been struck to allow an unnamed large AI company to use Reddit user...

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[–] [email protected] 143 points 8 months ago (2 children)

"We need to closec the api in order to protect our users from being used for ai"

[–] [email protected] 99 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, they never claimed it was to protect users. It was to protect their user's data from being used without paying Reddit. They didn't like that AI companies were using Reddit content as a free source of training data, they never gave a shit about their users' privacy.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

This is also slightly off. It was primarily to eliminate third party apps from the existing landscape. Reddit want money from users in one of two ways:

  1. Use their app and pay with your data via invasive tracking and advertising.
  2. Pay for a third party app that pays them for API access.

Due to the extortionate pricing, (2) was only ever hypothetical. In reality there was no sustainable model for this for any third party app, even as a non-profit.

The case around AI does exist, but it was smoke and mirrors for Reddit pulling the same nonsense that Twitter did once they realized they might get away with it, regardless of the short term damage it would do to their public image.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I think the 3rd party apps very a nice bonus but considering the timing I'm pretty sure the AI boom was the main reason.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I suppose you’re forgetting about Reddit premium…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, yeah, doesn't everyone?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Well yeah I suppose that’s the case, I was more stating the fact that it’s another way for reddit to suck money from its users. The best part is nothing really changes.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago

It was more like "We need to closec the api in order to protect our profits from the use of your data"