Reddit filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic for breach of contract and unlawful use of its data and platform
Reddit is a platform that is filled with user-generated information about hundreds of thousands of topics and has been a main source of training for large AI models. Yesterday Reddit filed a sue against AI startup Anthropic in San Francisco, claiming that Anthropic has been training its models on the personal data of Reddit users without obtaining their consent while they have also alleged that they have been harmed by the unauthorized commercial use of their content.
Reddit mentioned in the filing, “For its part, despite what its marketing material says, Anthropic does not care about Reddit’s rules or users: it believes it is entitled to take whatever content it wants and use that content however it desires with impunity. ”
Previously Reddit entered an agreement with OpenAI and Google that will allow the companies to train its AI models on Reddit content. According to Reddit, both these companies have always respected Reddit’s rules. But Anthropic has resisted entering a licensing agreement even as it trained its Claude chatbot on Reddit content, despite assuring last July it had blocked its bots from accessing Reddit’s platform.
It is also said that Anthropic’s bots have accessed or tried to access Reddit content more than 100,000 times, undermining the company’s allegedly styling itself as an AI white knight committed to trust and honesty.
In the lawsuit, Reddit sought damages and compelled Anthropic to abide by its contractual and legal obligations, asking for a jury trial. The complaint mentions, “While Reddit has always been of the mind that the community should be open to all humans looking for connection and community, it has never allowed its platform and the countless communities who find a home on it to be appropriated by commercial actors seeking to create billion-dollar enterprises and offering nothing in return to Reddit and its users.”
On the other hand, as per an Anthropic spokesperson, the AI startup disagrees with these claims made by Reddit and will defend itself.
