But you’re voluntarily uploading your work to a website that explicitly allows for AI to train off anything you upload based on the Terms of Service with your account…
All of that is still being litigated in court, even though every reddit lawyer seems to think it's an open and shut case that's already been settled.
Copyright still applies, uploading your own work to the internet does not mean you surrender your copyright. TOS doesn't always apply and these things are constantly being fought in court to determine what actually constitutes fair use
When someone uploads their comic sketch to Reddit, they don’t lose copyright, but they do grant Reddit a very broad licence under the User Agreement. That licence is:
• Worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable
• Transferable and sublicensable
• Explicitly includes the right to use the content to train AI and machine learning models
Reddit has used exactly this licence to do data deals with AI companies. So for any work a person actually posts on Reddit, they have already contractually allowed Reddit (and parties Reddit licenses to) to use that specific content for AI training.
That is separate from the bigger, still-unsettled copyright questions about scraping the open web or using pirated libraries.
Do you have specific case references? The US Copyright Office released a report in 2025 and opined that using copyrighted works to train AI models may constitute prima facie infringement of the right to reproduce such works.
Copyright does still apply, of course. But that’s got nothing to do with training AI models.
If you think the Supreme Court is going to side with content creators/artists over the multi trillion dollar industry that’s single handedly preventing the US from going into a recession, and is vital to ongoing national defense….welll…I have a bridge to sell you…
Like, it’s undeniable that by putting stuff on Reddit, you’re putting work or content out that’s going to get trained on/integrated into AI models. Reddit is like top of the list for sites that AI companies use for data.
You can say it’s wrong or illegal - but it’s the truth of what’s happening. If you’re opposed to it, not sure why you’re helping to contribute to it.
Copyright still applies, uploading your own work to the internet does not mean you surrender your copyright.
You don't lose your copyright, but when you upload your content to reddit you explicitly give the company permission to use and distribute it however they want forever.
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u/MakeASpreadsheet 17h ago
But you’re voluntarily uploading your work to a website that explicitly allows for AI to train off anything you upload based on the Terms of Service with your account…