In an unprecedented step, Reddit is now charging third-party companies for access to its data via an application programming interface (API). Popular chatbot companies, such as Google’s Bard, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Microsoft’s Bing Chat, have been using Reddit data to train their language models.
Reddit’s co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman believes that Reddit provides the most authentic and honest conversations on the internet. He believes that attitude is what allows third-party companies to get the most out of their language models. Since 2019, Reddit has had more than 430 million active monthly users participating in over 1.2 million special-interest groups. The data shared by these users are invaluable for those training these chatbots.
Google and Microsoft have been benefiting from Reddit data in terms of rising in search engine rankings and increasing their user base. Thus, Reddit is now choosing not to continue providing their data for free and will start charging for it. Huffman believes that Reddit has a lot of value and that this value should not be given away to the largest companies in the world free of charge.
The API data will be free of charge to developers who create applications that enhance user experience. However, other third-party users will be required to pay in order to access Reddit’s API data.
OpenAI is a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research laboratory founded by the world-renowned American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Elon Musk. Their mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) works toward the benefit of humanity instead of causing any detrimental effects. OpenAI uses Reddit’s API data to train their chatbots.
Steve Huffman is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit Inc. He co-founded Reddit with his college friend Alexis Ohanian in 2005. Reddit is one of the most popular social media sites and has over 430 million monthly active users. Huffman has been credited for introducing measures for moderating content on Reddit, implementing advertisements and improving the site’s community governance. He has been called “the Steve Jobs of Reddit.”
