OpenAI and Reddit have signed a groundbreaking deal granting OpenAI access to real-time content from Reddit’s Data API. This partnership aims to integrate Reddit discussions within OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other new products, while also enhancing Reddit’s platform with AI-powered features.
The collaboration is reminiscent of a similar agreement Reddit inked with Google earlier this year, which was reportedly valued at $60 million. Specific financial details of the OpenAI deal remain undisclosed.
In a joint statement, both companies highlighted the importance of maintaining an open internet, emphasizing Reddit’s role as a vibrant community for online conversation.
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“Reddit is a uniquely large and vibrant community that has long been an important space for conversation on the internet. Additionally, using LLMs, ML, and AI allows Reddit to improve the user experience for everyone.
“Keeping the internet open is crucial, and part of being open means Reddit content needs to be accessible to those fostering human learning and researching ways to build community, belonging, and empowerment online,” the statement read.
The deal is surprising because the company has historically been unfriendly toward entities scraping its data to train AI models. It even threatened to block Google’s web crawlers from accessing its site. Additionally, OpenAI reportedly informed the moderators of the subreddit r/ChatGPT that they had violated OpenAI’s copyright by using the ChatGPT logo as their display photo.
OpenAI will utilize Reddit’s Data API to surface structured, real-time content from the platform, significantly improving how its AI tools understand and showcase recent and relevant Reddit discussions. This integration aims to enhance user engagement with Reddit communities through OpenAI’s products.
The deal also includes OpenAI becoming an advertising partner on Reddit. Furthermore, Reddit plans to leverage OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) to introduce new AI-driven features for Redditors and moderators. These advancements are expected to enrich the user experience and streamline community management.
“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. 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,” said Reddit CEO Steve Huffman.
Despite the promising benefits of this partnership, Redditors have previously expressed concerns about how the platform is managed. In June 2023, over 7,000 subreddits went dark to protest changes to Reddit’s API pricing. Recently, a partnership between OpenAI and Stack Overflow led to user suspensions following attempts to delete their posts.
The current announcement did not disclose training data specifics, unlike Reddit’s deal with Google, which explicitly aimed to train Google’s AI models more efficiently. However, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, a Reddit shareholder, did not influence the partnership, which was led by OpenAI’s COO and approved by its independent Board of Directors.