In recent times, Reddit has been very serious about blocking outside companies from freely using data from the website, starting from search services. Only Google has been reported to pay Reddit in order to have search results from Reddit, and even to use the data to train AI, with Google and OpenAI paying for this exchange.
Recently, Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit, revealed to The Verge that Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity have been training AI using data from the website without permission, and blocking these companies has been a pain in the ass. These companies act as if internet data is free.
In the case of Microsoft, they not only train AI but also sell data from Reddit through the Bing API, which Reddit has just blocked. Anthropic claims they have not added any Reddit URLs to their data collection since mid-May, while Microsoft and Anthropic have remained silent on the matter.
Source – The Verge
TLDR: Reddit is cracking down on companies using its data without permission, with Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity being called out for training AI and selling data without authorization.
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