Reddit's CEO Takes Stand Against Data Misuse by Tech Giants in AI Arms Race

CEO Steve Huffman just confirmed how his company is working hard to carve its niche in the AI arms race. However, he was not happy about other leading tech giants taking advantage of the company’s data without obtaining consent.

As per Huffman, the app’s content is considered to be some of the best training data for AI. Many do consider it very valuable and it’s great timing because Reddit is trying to figure out where it lies in this AI race.

The news comes as the Reddit CEO made an appearance recently at the Wall Street Journal’s much-talked-about Tech Live conference yesterday. This is where the future of online search in a period of AI was discussed.

The CEO hopes to stand out brighter than before during the times when AI generated content is out of control. And because of that, finding authentic human content and insights is super hard to find. And that is where Reddit boasts its power.

The firm went public about its AI aspirations in March this year. It’s a platform that many turn to for help on a wide number of topics. The best bit is how it keeps getting updated. Hence, that’s why it’s so valuable in training models and helping them think and speak like one of us.

Reddit has a massive database featuring content and comments that users generate. It plays a vast role in helping to bring AI models to life and that’s why Reddit is finally confirming its place in the growing AI ecosystem.

During the start of this year, Reddit rolled out public content policies and made major deals with the likes of Google and OpenAI to enable data for training AI models. Google confirmed its $60M yearly partnership with Reddit for content access. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s deal details are still discreet and yet to be revealed.

As per Huffman, the internet needs to be more open than restricted. But that should never come at the cost of giving out material for free, he adds. When asked if other leading tech giants in today’s world were misusing Reddit and taking data for AI training without consent, he said yes. This is why deals are now in place to stop that from happening and so both parties can benefit.

Reddit is rumored to be in discussions with many other companies for data licensing and that includes Microsoft. Huffman concluded that Reddit is very transparent and it doesn’t like the sounds of a closed internet. But if that is what’s required to maintain the firm’s values and achieve sustainability, then so be it. Remember, internet scraping is not a fun game when you’re at the losing end.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World