Reddit strikes $60M deal allowing Google to train AI models on its posts, unveils IPO plans

SAN FRANCISCO — Reddit has struck a deal with Google that allows the search giant to use posts from the online discussion site for training its artificial intelligence models and to improve services such as Google Search. The arrangement, announced Thursday and valued at roughly $60 million, will also give Reddit access to Google AI models for improving its internal site search and other features. Reddit partners such as Google are required to do likewise in order “to respect the choices that users make on Reddit,” the individual said. Google praised Reddit in a news release, calling it a repository for “an incredible breadth of authentic, human conversations and experiences” and stressing that the search giant primarily aims “to make it even easier for people to benefit from that useful information.” Google played down its interest in using Reddit data to train its AI systems, instead emphasizing how it will make it “even easier” for users to access Reddit information, such as product recommendations and travel advice, by funneling it through Google products. It described this process as “more content-forward displays of Reddit information” that aim to benefit both Google’s tools and to make it easier for people to participate on Reddit.