OpenAI will train its AI model on content from social networking site Reddit, the two companies jointly announced on Thursday. Reddit has declared itself “the most important place for conversation on the Internet” and said the deal expands the scope of the material in OpenAI's Large Language Model (LLM) to help improve the user experience.
“This partnership will also allow Reddit to bring new AI-powered features to redditors and mods,” the company said, adding that OpenAI “will better understand and display Reddit content, especially on recent topics.”
Following the announcement, shares in Reddit ( RDDT ) rose more than 14 percent in after-hours trading. The company's shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 21.
In a footnote at the end of a blog post about the deal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that he is a shareholder in Reddit. The AI giant also noted that the deal was chaired by OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap and approved by an independent board of directors.
“Reddit has become one of the Internet's largest open archives of authentic, relevant, and always up-to-date human conversations about anything,” said Steve Huffman, Reddit's founder and CEO, in a statement. “Inclusion in ChatGPT supports our belief in a connected internet, helping people find what they're looking for and helping new audiences find community on Reddit.”
Like Reddit, OpenAI pulls Reddit content into ChatGPT and other unnamed products using the Reddit Data API. The partnership will allow Reddit to develop new AI features using OpenAI's technology, while also making OpenAI an advertising partner of Reddit.
“We are excited to partner with Reddit to enhance ChatGPT with unique, timely and relevant information, and to explore the opportunity to enrich the Reddit experience with AI-powered features,” Lightcap said in a statement.
OpenAI has been more dismissive of the partnership. Reddit did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
The agreement between OpenAI and Reddit comes in a week where both OpenAI and Google have made several high-profile announcements around their respective AI tools.
On Monday, OpenAI released updates to ChatGPT, including a new faster model called GPT-4o. On Tuesday, at its annual Google I/O event, Google highlighted several new AI-powered features under the Gemini brand, including expanded features for its workplace tools.
The OpenAI deal isn't the first time Reddit has used its vast library of discussions and debates. In February, Reddit struck a deal with rival AI developer Google, giving the tech giant access to its vast library of content. The partnership subsequently led to an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which Reddit disclosed the following month.
“FTC staff is conducting a non-public inquiry focused on our sale, license, or sharing of user-generated content to third parties to train AI models,” Reddit said in its filing. “We do not believe we are engaged in any unfair or deceptive business practices.”
News of the deal between OpenAI and Reddit didn't sit well with many on social media, with many commenters criticizing the site's more provocative and controversial communities.
“Reddit hives are a bunch of basement-dwelling, unemployed socialists,” Trustswap CEO Jeff Kirdekis tweeted. “If you think so [OpenAI] It was biased before…”
“I'm glad to know that Search is coming with Reddit filters,” said technology educator Paul Kuvert.
“This is a disaster waiting to happen,” says Che Rodney, author and entrepreneur of “Misinformation and Bias.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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