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Reddit Looks to Profit from Users’ Conversations

2 mins
Updated by Geraint Price
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In Brief

  • Reddit will start charging big AI firms for API access.
  • According to Reddit staff, the move was to cover operational costs.
  • Twitter recently announced the removal of its free API access tier.
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Starting in June, Reddit will start to charge Big Tech firms accessing conversation data through its application programming interface (API) to train their artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.

Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI have previously trained their large language models using Reddit’s free API.

Reddit CEO Hopes Paid User Data Will Provide Quality Info for AI

Reddit has not disclosed its API’s fee model that will provide these firms access to the daily conversations of 57 million visitors. It will still offer free API access to developers who use the tool to build useful applications and researchers using the platform for non-commercial purposes. APIs govern interactions between two software firms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) firms increasingly rely on text and image data to train special algorithms to answer questions. 

Sites like Google already scrape Reddit posts when indexing search results, but the recent explosion of tools using large language models increases the importance of access to quality data.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is confident that the authenticity of the data on the social platform will improve AI answers. He argues that people are more candid there than in a support group or therapy session.

The company plans to go public soon.

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, trained its Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 language model using data from the social media site. Its training allows it to parse queries and generate text-based answers.

LLM companies like OpenAI have been criticized for their opacity in protecting user data used in algorithms. Earlier this year, the Italian Data Protection Authority banned ChatGPT around user privacy concerns.

Reddit Paid API Tier Divides Developers

Based on calls with Reddit staff, one commercial developer insisted that the pivot was not to earn major profits but to cover operational costs. 

Others were less forgiving. One user, lilbro93, encouraged the community to “spread the word” and Make Reddit pull a full reversal.”

Reddit’s move to set up a paywall for its data follows a recent Twitter clampdown restricting access to its API. The API previously enabled non-commercial developers to create free tools such as weather trackers and allowed researchers to study online behavior.

CEO Elon Musk said that the decision to remove the free tier was driven by “bot scammers” and “opinion manipulators.”

Last year, developers of third-party commercial bots could access less restricted data from $99 upwards. 

Reddit recently announced the third round of Polygon-based NFT avatars, a project it launched in 2022. 

For Be[In]Crypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.

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David Thomas
David Thomas graduated from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, with an Honors degree in electronic engineering. He worked as an engineer for eight years, developing software for industrial processes at South African automation specialist Autotronix (Pty) Ltd., mining control systems for AngloGold Ashanti, and consumer products at Inhep Digital Security, a domestic security company wholly owned by Swedish conglomerate Assa Abloy. He has experience writing software in C,...
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