OpenAI is working with Reddit to bring its content to ChatGPT and new AI products

OpenAI and Reddit have entered into a partnership that will see the artificial intelligence (AI) company gain access to Reddit’s real-time data for ChatGPT and any new AI products the company launches in the future. Reddit will also be able to leverage OpenAI technology to bring AI-powered features to its platform. OpenAI will also become an advertiser on the latter platform. Notably, the social media platform signed a similar deal with Google in February, which is reportedly worth $60 million (roughly Rs. 500 crore) per year.

Details of the partnership were announced in a blog post from Reddit. However, financial terms were not disclosed. OpenAI will gain access to Reddit’s Data API (application programming interface), allowing the company to pull real-time content from the platform and use it for ChatGPT and future products. Interestingly, there is no mention of whether the data will be used to train an AI model or whether it will be displayed as query results. The latter wouldn’t be out of place considering that several recent rumors suggest that OpenAI is working on an AI-powered search engine that could compete with Google Search.

Reddit also benefits from this deal as the social media platform will gain access to OpenAI’s AI models to build features for its platform. The company said it will soon introduce AI features for redditors and mods (subreddit moderators).

Namely, OpenAI disclosed in its announcement, confirming that the company’s CEO Sam Altman was a shareholder of Reddit. The deal, however, was led by COO Brad Lightcap and approved by an independent Board of Directors. In fact, Reddit’s SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings point out that Altman is the company’s third largest shareholder.

Last year, Reddit sparked outrage in its community by announcing its intentions to charge for its API, which had been free since the company’s inception. The change was not well received by the community, as many third-party applications that used its API could not afford to run, and many subreddits went private in protest of the move. However, the company remained firm on its decision. Now, a year later, the API is a commercial tool that has already been sold to Google and OpenAI. The social media platform was released in March 2024.