Reddit is one of the most popular social platforms, boasting millions of daily active users. Therefore, it can be a very valuable source of data in the age of AI. However, the company does not want big companies to take advantage of its data for free. Reddit CEO has said publicly that they want Microsoft and others to pay for use of its content.
Reddit has already reached agreements with such big names as Google and OpenAI for the use of data in LLM training. This allows the company to receive compensation, while AI-powered third-party services have access to a gigantic data library. However, things have not been so easy with Microsoft, who seems to have a different point of view.
Microsoft should pay for using Reddit content in AI training, Reddit CEO says
It is public that, with respect to AI, Microsoft considers most of the content available on the internet to be free to use. Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of the Microsoft AI division, made this clear in a public interview. Suleyman said that they do not take content whose author explicitly requests not to be used for AI training. However, the executive considers the rest of the content on the internet as “freeware.” Of course, this goes completely against Reddit’s intention of making Microsoft pay for using the platform’s content.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman not only criticized Microsoft for taking data without paying but also other AI companies such as Anthropic and Perplexity. A Reddit spokesperson told The Verge that Microsoft and Reddit have attempted to negotiate on the matter. However, they were unable to reach a satisfactory agreement for all parties. Meanwhile, Huffman warns that they will implement blocks for companies taking data from Reddit without authorization or compensation.
Reddit blocked Bing from accessing content on the platform
In fact, the company has already implemented some blocks. For example, by not reaching an agreement with Microsoft, Reddit blocked Bing’s access to its data in search results. The Reddit dev team even has a Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt) designed for this purpose. Still, Huffman admits that applying blocks to such large companies is “a real pain in the ass,” so he’d probably rather not have to.
Reddit CEO says the company is “selective about who we work with and trust with large-scale access to Reddit content.” Only time will tell if Reddit and Microsoft resolve their dispute and come to an agreement, or if we will see blocks on a larger scale in the near future. After all, Huffman and Suleyman’s views regarding the use of content available on the Internet seem totally antagonistic, and someone would have to give in.