Reddit Inc. has signed a contract allowing a company to train its artificial intelligence models on the social media platform’s content, according to people familiar with the matter, as it nears the potential launch of its long-awaited initial public offering.
Even if it’s just another scheme to further concentrate wealth (and it is at least that), that harms everyone but the 0.1%.
I draw plenty of benefit from AI tools. There are open source models that anyone can run.
My original question remains unanswered. “It may help someone I don’t like because they are richer than me” is a pretty weak concept of “harm.”
That argument is a very short (not very detailed) way of surmising the current issue with our world as a whole.
Don’t like how cars have taken over the world, are the reason cities are hard to live in for low income families, and cause massive amount of climate damage? You can thank the 1% for that.
Frustrated with how you don’t really own anything, your digital “property” can be taken away from you at a moments notice, and that everything you enjoy gets stuffed with schemes to make more money off of vulnerable people? You can thank the 1% for that.
Angered that health care costs truly absurd amounts, that medicine is sold to the consumer with a 10,000% mark up, or that a single accident that was not their fault could land someone in debt for life? You can thank the 1% for that.
A disturbing amount of things that are not good for our planet, keep the poor people poor, and generate inferior products/experiences is directly because of the insane power that the rich hold over our worlds systems.
“It helps someone I don’t like because they are richer than me” is actually a wonderful definition of harm.
Reddit used to be an amazing place of community and content that you couldn’t find anywhere on the internet. Then in the pursuit of money and the power that the 1% have Reddit (the company) started implementing practices that actively made the experience worse for the user, violated a person’s ownership of their content, and removed choice just like authoritative/dictatorship governments do.
It feels to most people that there is nearly nothing that can be done about it. So when a person has the opportunity to directly go against the rich caste in our world they will take that opportunity immediately.
I recommend taking a hard look at the things that concern you with our world, or cause you pain/annoyance/discomfort and try and learn WHY the issue is the way it is. The majority of the time is because some rich person/group of people (I’m looking at you lobby groups) has an obscene amount of power compared to all of the people affected.
Lastly there is a reason that “Tax the rich/Eat the rich” is the rally cry of generations.
It’s because the rich cause us harm.
Completely unrelated to anything my post said.
I was directly addressing all of the points you raised.
You said it concentrates wealth, but open source does the opposite of that - it allows small companies and individuals to earn money using the technology without having to pay for its use.
You said it “harms everyone but the 0.1%.” I am benefited by it, not harmed, and I am very much not part of the 0.1%.
You’re hallucinating. (Pun intended.)
Neither Capt. Wolf nor I said a single thing about AI or Open Source. And the article didn’t mention anything about Open Source.
No, I said things about AI and open source. I raised open source as part of my counter to your argument that this is “concentrating wealth.”
Here, I’ll explain in detail what’s going on.
In response to an article about Reddit licensing your content to AI trainers, capt_wolf said “it’s time to purge your account.” Presumably as a way to stop that from happening. I asked why that was a bad thing, specifically how it harmed us in any meaningful way. You came in at that point and suggested:
I raised open source as a counter to the “wealth concentration” point, because open source does the opposite - it spreads the wealth to any who want it. It puts these resources into the commons.
I also pointed out that I personally benefit from AI tools, so it does the opposite of harming me. As I am not part of the 0.1%, that’s a counter to your second point.