Reddit forges pact with OpenAI to bring content to ChatGPT
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It will bring Reddit content to ChatGPT and allow the social media network to add new AI features.
PHOTO: AFP
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San Francisco - Reddit has forged a partnership with OpenAI that will bring its content to the chatbot ChatGPT and other products, while also helping the social media firm add new artificial intelligence (AI) features to its forums.
Shares of Reddit, which had their initial public offering (IPO) in March, jumped as much as 15 per cent in late trading on May 16 following the announcement.
The agreement “will enable OpenAI’s AI tools to better understand and showcase Reddit content, especially on recent topics”, the companies said in a joint statement on May 16. The deal allows OpenAI to display Reddit’s content and train AI systems on its partner’s data.
Reddit will also offer its users new AI-based tools built on models created by OpenAI, which will place advertisements on its partner’s site. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Reddit content has long been a popular source of training data for making AI models – including those of OpenAI. Last week, Reddit released new policies governing the use of its data, part of an effort to increase revenue through licensing agreements with AI developers and other companies.
“Our data is extremely valuable,” chief executive Steve Huffman said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit earlier in May. “We’re seeing a ton of interest in it.”
Finding a new moneymaking opportunity was part of Reddit’s pitch in the lead-up to its IPO. The company signed an accord in January with Alphabet’s Google worth US$60 million (S$80.8 million) to help train large language models, the technology underpinning generative AI.
The social network has signed licensing deals worth US$203 million in total, with terms ranging from two to three years, and has been in talks to strike additional licensing agreements.
OpenAI, for its part, is increasingly forging partnerships with media firms to help train its AI systems and show more real-time content within its chatbot. The ChatGPT maker penned deals with Dotdash Meredith in May and the Financial Times in April.
Mr Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, has a long history with Reddit – he was one of the company’s largest shareholders at the time of its IPO in 2024, and briefly served as Reddit’s interim CEO in 2014. The companies noted that their partnership was led by OpenAI’s chief operating officer Brad Lightcap and was approved by its independent directors.
Shares of Reddit, which had declined 5.5 per cent to US$56.38 in New York trading, soared as high as US$64.75 after the partnership was announced. The stock has gained 66 per cent since its listing. BLOOMBERG
