Reddit's filing with the SEC makes clear that training AI with user posts is a core part of Reddit's new business model.

Reddit said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that its users’ posts are “a valuable source of conversation data and knowledge” that has been and will continue to be an important mechanism for training AI and large language models. The filing also states that the company believes “we are in the early stages of monetizing our user base,” and proceeds to say that it will continue to sell users’ content to companies that want to train LLMs and that it will also begin “increased use of artificial intelligence in our advertising solutions.”

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Reddit has entered a contract with Google, which will license its content for $60 million a year in order to train Google’s AI models.

    • @fernandofig@reddthat.comEnglish
      20•9 months ago

      Not to take Reddit’s / spez side, but to clarify, that’s not actually what he got in cash - what he got in cash on 2023 was something around 600k.

      Those 193mil was in stock. Which kind of explains his drive to monetize users and kick out third-party apps: that piece of paper is only worth that much as long as he can keep the stock value afloat.

      • @SuperSynthia@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11•9 months ago

        I just wish these platforms wouldn’t attract people like that. I get he is after a life changing amount of money no doubt, but 600k is a comfortable living by any metric.

        Thank goodness for this decentralized stuff now. Communities are important, especially for the marginalized in society. There is a potential good in social technology without jerks with ad budgets and AI delusions of grandeur

        • Snot FlickermanEnglish
          13•9 months ago

          I just wish these platforms wouldn’t attract people like that.

          He was a Founder who left and came back. In all fairness, he was never attracted to it so much as he was instrumental in creating it.

          The type of person he is is the type of person who created the platform to begin with…

          Another example might be Jack Dorsey, who claimed that Elon Musk could be the only one to save Twitter.

          In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.

          These asshats are all alike. To get to the point where you can afford fleets of servers to create a service like this to begin with, you already were exploiting people and greasing palms. Other than Aaron Swartz, you should be pretty fucking skeptical of anyone who has been involved with Y Combinator.

        • Cosmic ClericEnglish
          5•9 months ago

          get he is after a life changing amount of money no doubt, but 600k is a comfortable living by any metric.

          Can’t buy very many yachts on that salary. /s