Uh-Oh! Reddit Agrees to Sell User Content to an AI Company!

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is everywhere.

AI has made our lives easier, tougher, messier, and interesting all at the same time. Ranging from its useful utilities to the dangers it brings with it. However, the way an AI gets the data to train on has remained questionable, whether it is for a productive purpose or experimental.

Do companies sell user data to AI companies? How do they collect all the data?

Well, it looks like Reddit just agreed to sell its user data on the platform to an AI company 🤯

The Tale of Reddit's Greed

It was just last year (2023) when Reddit introduced changes to its API, forcing users to use the official Reddit app over third-party clients.

Now that the users/community seem to be slowly recovering, Reddit has surprised us with another fascinating decision.

As per a Bloomberg report, Reddit has signed a deal that allows a company to train its AI models on the platform's content, in return for about $60 million annually. And, this happens right before launching its initial public offering (IPO) in the stock market in March.

Reddit has not officially confirmed/denied this yet. But, would they stop if users complain about it and when news stories like this circulate?

Well, I do not know. We can only hope that they might be able to step back from this deal.

Users' Data Always At Risk 🗃️

While the headline could have shocked you, it is important to remember that the platforms that we use always have a say in what they do with our content shared.

Sure, they cannot do it all wrong just for the sake of ethics.

However, monetizing screen time, content access, or advertisement eyeballs, it is something inevitable unless it's backed by a community.

There will be an uproar and backlash with Reddit's decision-making the news. But, it is incredibly tough for users to do anything about it.

Moreover, we do not have any specific laws or compliance standards regarding AI, and its access to data on the internet. So, it becomes harder to fight against it compared to any other controversial move before AI was a thing.

I do not have any "special" tip to protect against your publicly accessible information (through social media) being used by an AI. Mostly because, there aren't any 🤷‍♂️

You just have to limit sharing the information that you want to be scrapped/used/looked at by everyone on the internet. If you have something that's out in the public, you need to realize that you do not entirely own it.

💬What do you think about Reddit's move on this? Share your thoughts!