New York, USA – E be like say wahala don show as social media champ Reddit don sue AI company Perplexity for New York federal court on Wednesday. Dem accuse am say dem dey illegally scrape Reddit data to train their AI search engine. Abeg, no be small thing.
According to Reddit’s talk, dem say Perplexity and three other companies bypass dem data protection to chop data wey dem dey “desperately” need for their so-called “answer engine”. (E be like say dem no fit answer enough questions without our data? Hmm!)
This case na just one out of plenty wey don involve content owners wey dey vex for tech companies over how dem dey use and misuse copyright material to train their AI systems. Reddit don even carry another AI company, Anthropic, court dis year. Chai!
Perplexity no gree japa from the allegations o. Dem don talk say na extortion work and say Reddit dey try block de free flow of information wey go benefit everybody. Wetin dem go fit talk again, e be like wahala dey scatter everywhere!
Ben Lee, Reddit chief legal officer, don also chuk mouth for matter. E talk say AI companies dey in a big armed race for high-quality human content. Dis pressure don fuel wetin e call “data laundering economy” wey dey happen for this tech space. (As if dem no sabi say copyright matter no be joke!)
Reddit as e be, na wey dem fit see more citations from AI-generated answers after dem send cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity last year. E be like say dem increase citations to Reddit by forty-fold. Wetin dem dey try do nah? Show dem pepper?
Reddit don accuse three companies, Lithuania’s Oxylabs, Russia’s AWMProxy, and Texas-based SerpApi, of scraping dem data like dem na professional thieves. Dem say these guys dey hide their true identity and location just to feast on Reddit data without dem permission. No be small wahala!
On the other hand, SerpApi don talk say dem dey strongly disagree with Reddit’s claim and dem ready to fight back in court. Oxylabs sef dey shocked and disappointed. (E go shock you o, if dem no sabi the rules!)
Dis lawsuit don open ground to show how tech companies and content owners fit clash. E look like say the battle for online data na serious fight wey go take long to finish. You fit imagine, AI researchers don talk say Reddit’s rich collection of conversations fit help AI chatbots dey produce beta responses. Wetin happen nah? Everybody wan chop from the same pot!
For dis current age of AI, Reddit dey tighten dem strategies. Dem don set licensing agreements wey dey allow only AI companies like OpenAI and Google to access dem data. But Perplexity dey argue say dem no dey use Reddit content for training models, instead dem dey summarize plus cite discussions wey dey public. Wetin you sabi?
Reddit don pop dem champaign as online search traffic don become big business, and dem dey compete with companies like Google wey don expand partnership with Reddit early this year. At the end of the day, who go win? Suppliers or buyers in dis tech battle?
Do you have a news tip for NNN? Please email us at editor@nnn.ng
