Social platform Reddit has signed a deal with Google to make its content available for training the search giant’s artificial intelligence models. According to sources, the contract with Google (Alphabet) is worth about $60 million per year.
The deal underscores that Reddit, which is preparing for a high-profile stock market launch, is seeking to generate new revenue in the face of fierce competition from services such as TikTok and Meta, transmits Reuters.
The sources were not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified.
Reddit and Google declined to comment. Last year, Reddit announced that it would charge companies for access to its application programming interface (API) — the means by which it distributes its content. The deal with Google could be the first agreement with a major artificial intelligence company.
Reddit and Google declined to comment. Last year, Reddit announced that it would charge companies for access to its application programming interface (API) — the means by which it distributes its content. The deal with Google could be the first agreement with a major artificial intelligence company.
San Francisco-based Reddit has been considering an IPO for more than three years, and is preparing to file an initial public offering this week, in which it will disclose its financials in detail for the first time to potential IPO investors. According to two sources, the documents may be available as early as Thursday.
The company was valued at about $10 billion during a funding round in 2021, and is looking to sell about 10% of its shares during the offering. Reddit’s entry into the stock market will be the first IPO of a major social network since Pinterest’s offering in 2019.
In recent months, developers of artificial intelligence models have been busy striking deals with content owners in an effort to diversify their training data beyond large chunks of the internet. This practice is fraught with potential copyright issues, as many content creators claim that their content has been used without permission.