While I disagree with u/spez's actions, I understand his perspective. Reddit's most valuable asset is its curated text data for training Large Language Models like ChatGPT. Closing down the API protects that asset. He's likely betting that subreddit moderation will be solved with LLMs so the mods that generated that data are of little concern going forward. There will be only one chance to monetize this data asset.
The reason I disagree with u/spez's actions is because I don't believe this asset belongs to him. I'm sure he's protected from a legal perspective but from a philosophical perspective, when a user writes an idea on an online forum, they don't forfeit ownership of that idea. People who contributed to Reddit even 12 months ago had no idea their thoughts will be monetized and consumed by LLMs. We need laws to protect people's data and to democratize data assets.
I also wish u/spez would just be honest about what he's doing. Telling possibly career ending lies about developers and disregarding the mods that made Reddit is inexcusable. It's clear that Reddit has succeeded despite u/spez's leadership.
@greg I stand by what I've been saying, Reddit has lost it's way and clearly doesn't understand how they no longer align with the user base that made what Reddit is today. Alienate the user base, watch it start to crumble and die out. I have no problem with a company making money, but don't do it while destroying your own customers.
Hundreds of people are putting money on whether the company will back-track on its new API pricing policy or oust its CEO Steve #Huffman, #BetUS told Insider.
@dnakath@jerry Seriously! Can you believe that guy watched what Elon has done over the last six months and thought, "Yeah! That's how to run a social media company." 🤷
#Reddit users are mad about the #API charges that hit third party #apps, but I actually find this from #Huffman much more concerning: "...data licensing is a new potential business for us."
What he's actually saying - they want to sell user data to AI companies for them to train their models. This should be a reason to delete all your content and leave the platform. In Europe, you should raise a #GDPR-deletion request.
Q:...changes are also a way for Reddit to monetize off the AI companies that are using Reddit data to train their models. Is that still a primary consideration here too, or is this more about making the money back that you’re spending on supporting these third party apps?
A: What they have in common is we’re not going to subsidize other people’s businesses for free. But financially, they’re not related. The API usage is about covering costs and data licensing is a new potential business for us.
#Reddit CEO #Huffman said of #AI (sic) companies, "If they take our content and build businesses on it, that’s an issue"
So let me get this straight. Huffman is allowed to take my content for free, without compensating me in any way, and build a business on it, but AI companies can't do the same?