Google to Pay Reddit Millions in AI Content Licensing Deal

On Thursday, Google said it would pay Reddit $60.00 million annually to use the aggregator’s content to train its large language models (LLMs).

The Alphabet-owned company will use data from the social network’s 62.24 million daily users to accelerate the development of Gemini. Gemini, formerly Bard, is the search giant’s generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) assistant designed for Android systems.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed confidence that the agreement will help Gemini surpass OpenAI’s Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT). ChatGPT’s release in November 2020 sparked a GenAI arms race, prompting tech companies to focus on integrating AI into their offerings.

Pichai praised Reddit as an outstanding repository for authentic human conversations, which is ideal for training LLMs. In addition, he reassured Redditors that the arrangement binds Google to the social platform’s user terms and privacy policy.

Moreover, the data-sharing collaboration will make it easier for Redditors to find information by implementing AI-powered recommendations and search results. Unlike other major social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, Reddit does not use algorithmic processes to provide suggestions.

Lastly, making Reddit’s displays more content-forward will make it more accessible and attractive to new users. Consequently, the larger user base will provide Google with more data to train its LLMs, creating a win-win scenario.

Reddit to Boost Content Moderation with Google AI

The collaboration grants Reddit access to Google GenAI models for automated content moderation and improved internal site search. It will lower its dependence on volunteer moderators, the subject of a growing number of complaints in recent years.

Social media experts criticized the lack of accountability of subreddit moderators, claiming it significantly damages the platform’s credibility. Furthermore, human moderators can abruptly stop working, which may get the subreddit they administer banned.

Augmenting its moderation capabilities with Google AI will increase Reddit’s appeal ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) in March. Its IPO will mark the first time since 2019 that a social media platform premiered on the stock market.

Analysts expect the Reddit IPO to have a market capitalization valuation of at least $5.00 billion.