According to three insiders familiar with the situation, Google has reportedly agreed with Reddit to use the social media platform's content to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The deal with Google is valued at around $60 million annually, said one of the individuals who talked to Reuters.
The transaction highlights Reddit's efforts to create fresh income in the face of intense competition for advertising revenues from platforms like TikTok and Facebook. Apparently, Reddit is getting ready for a public stock market debut.
No names were given since the sources were not permitted to speak to the media.
A year ago, Reddit announced that it would start charging businesses to use its application programming interface (API), which is how it distributes its material. Its rumored partnership with Google marks its first partnership with a major AI firm.
Stock Launch
This week, the San Francisco-based Reddit will prepare to file for its initial public offering (IPO), which would provide prospective investors with its first detailed financial information. The company has been considering a stock float for over three years.
This would be the first significant social media firm IPO since Pinterest issued shares in 2019 if Reddit were to list on the stock market.
AI model makers have been aggressively courting content owners in the last several months in an effort to diversify their training material away from massive internet scrapes. Since some content providers have claimed that their work was used without their consent, this approach comes with possible copyright difficulties.
Established in 2005 by entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and web developer Steve Huffman, Reddit is famous for its many specialized message boards, some of which have tens of millions of subscribers.
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