Data use remains a controversial topic in the world of artificial intelligence. In an attempt to calm the waters, major players in the industry have struck deals with social or content platforms. One such case is the partnership between Reddit and Google. Now, in a related development, Reddit is in discussions with Google to revise its content-sharing agreement for AI training, which was originally established more than a year ago for a reported $60 million annually.
The talks between the two companies focus on two key areas (reported by Bloomberg). First, according to reports, Reddit is proposing a new deal structure that would move away from a fixed payment and toward a dynamic pricing model. Under this model, Reddit’s compensation would be determined by how often its content is cited or used as a source for answers generated by AI platforms like Google’s AI Overviews. Reddit executives believe current terms do not adequately reflect the value of their data to AI companies.
Reddit want an AI deal with Google that gives them more traffic and users
Second, Reddit is seeking a different kind of partnership that would encourage more of the traffic it receives from Google to convert into active community members. This effort aims to address a challenge in the current relationship: users who find answers from Reddit content on Google often don’t visit the platform itself. This limits Reddit’s ability to grow its user base and generate new content for future AI training. By finding a way to deepen user engagement, the partnership could provide a more consistent source of high-quality data for AI models.
The discussions are taking place because Reddit’s data is a valuable resource for AI companies. Large language models get vast datasets scraped from the internet. Reddit’s unique format, with its in-depth, user-driven conversations on a wide range of topics, is a frequently cited source. Data suggests Reddit is the most cited domain for AI tools like Perplexity and Google’s own AI Overviews.
Other publishers and platforms seeking fair compensation
This situation is not exclusive to Reddit. Other content providers, including news publishers, have also been addressing how their work is used to train AI models. The New York Times, for example, has sued both OpenAI and Google. The media platform alleges that its work was improperly used. In a similar case, Reddit has also sued OpenAI rival Anthropic. In this case, the social media platform alleged that the AI startup illegally scraped its data to train its models.
The outcome of the Reddit and Google talks is still pending. However, the discussions highlight how content platforms are seeking to establish new ways to get fair compensation for their content.
