Reddit CEO calls user data ‘modern oil’ for AI, pursues lawsuits

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said Tuesday that large language models would not exist without Reddit‘s vast user-generated content, which he described as “modern oil” for artificial intelligence, as the company pursues legal action against firms for unauthorized data use.

The California-based social media platform has entered into data licensing agreements with Google and OpenAI, marking its initial two deals for AI data.

Reddit has filed lawsuits against AI firms Anthropic and Perplexity, along with three data-scraping entities, alleging unauthorized use of its content and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions, Huffman said.

The company began charging for commercial API access in 2023, requiring commercial terms for any commercial utilization of its data. However, Reddit maintains free access for academic researchers and universities.

Huffman told Fast Company that Reddit’s stance on data sharing shifted when the AI industry moved away from open research, making it increasingly difficult for the platform to monitor how its data was being used commercially.

Reddit utilizes AI within its own products, including Reddit Answers, an LLM-powered search feature that provides verbatim user quotes. The company also employs AI for content moderation and classification purposes.

Regarding the influx of AI-written posts by users, Huffman said Reddit prioritizes the human intent behind content. He indicated that Reddit would allow its community to address the issue rather than implementing a specific policy against AI-generated submissions.

Source: Search Engine Journal