OpenAI and Reddit announced Thursday that OpenAI will gain access to Reddit data for training its artificial intelligence models, with plans to deploy its technology on the popular discussion platform.
Reddit, which recently debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, aims to leverage the value of interactions within its diverse discussion groups to enhance revenues.
The partnership between the San Francisco-based tech firms did not disclose financial details, as Reddit primarily relies on advertising for revenue.
“Reddit has become one of the internet’s largest open archives of authentic, relevant, and always up-to-date human conversations about anything and everything,” stated Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman in a joint release.
“Including it in ChatGPT upholds our belief in a connected internet, helps people find more of what they’re looking for, and helps new audiences find community on Reddit.”
OpenAI will integrate real-time access to Reddit data, enriching content within ChatGPT and enabling the development of tools on the social media platform, the companies announced.
In June last year, Reddit experienced a significant outage when the site’s communities protested against new fees imposed to grant access to developers.
The dispute emerged amidst the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution, as Huffman was hesitant to grant free access to companies developing AI chatbots like ChatGPT to refine their large-language models on the platform.
“Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use,” Huffman wrote in a Reddit post at the time.
Reddit operates primarily through thousands of “subreddits,” which are forums covering a wide range of topics moderated by their creators.
The largest subreddits boast tens of millions of subscribers, including popular ones such as r/funny, r/games, and r/music.
Reddit has introduced several social media standards, with Ask Me Anything (AMAs) sessions being one of the most notable, where users can engage in Q&A sessions with interviewees within a specified timeframe.
OpenAI highlighted in the release that its chief executive, Sam Altman, is a shareholder in Reddit.
