Reddit and Google announced a partnership that will enable Google to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models on Reddit’s extensive collection of user-generated material. As part of the agreement, Google will have access to Reddit’s Data API, enabling the company to “better understand” the site’s content.
As a result of the agreement, Google will also have access to a priceless material source for training its AI models. “Google has improved signals that will help us better comprehend Reddit content and display, train on, and generally use it in the most accurate and relevant ways,” the company said in a statement. “Google will now have efficient and structured access to fresher information.”
Access to Reddit’s data became a hot-button issue last year when the company announced it would start charging developers to the use its API. The changes resulted in the shuttering of many third-party Reddit clients, and a sitewide protest in which thousands of subreddits temporarily “went dark.” Reddit justified the changes, in part, by saying that large AI companies were scraping its data without paying. In a statement, Reddit noted that the new arrangement with Google “does not change Reddit’s Data API Terms or Developer Terms” and that “API access remains free for non-commercial usage.”
The deal comes as Reddit is expected to go public in the coming weeks. Neither Google or Reddit disclosed the terms of their arrangement but Bloomberg reported last week that Reddit had struck a licensing deal with a “large AI company” valued at “about $60 million” a year. That amount was also confirmed by Reuters, which was first to report Google’s involvement.
