Reddit was launched in 2005 by present CEO Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian as a spot the place users submit content material — information articles, humorous images, cat movies, random observations — to be supported (“upvoted”) or buried (“downvoted”).
Since then, Reddit has develop into greatest referred to as a set of communities known as “subreddits,” the place folks talk about all the things from the Vancouver meals scene to severe private struggles.
“People go there to literally get support to help them stop drinking, to help them stop doing drugs, to connect with people who are going through similar challenges,” mentioned Sarah Gilbert, analysis director at Cornell University’s Citizens and Technology Lab. “Because it’s largely pseudonymous, that allows you to participate a little more openly.”
Even in the event you’re not a die-hard Redditor, there’s an opportunity the location has helped you as a result of its years of posts on mainly each topic ceaselessly seem in search outcomes. No marvel, then, that Google and corporations like it have discovered Reddit to be a treasure trove of coaching information for chatty AI fashions — one thing that has naturally rubbed some the unsuitable approach.
“Reddit users highly value privacy, which makes sense, given that most people contribute pseudonymously,” Gilbert mentioned in a press release earlier this 12 months. “We also found that how they feel about data use varies by context. For example, we found that users would be uncomfortable with use of private data, such as direct messages.”
