Reddit sues Anthropic for scraping content into the maw of its eternally ravenous AI

Reddit, the popular internet discussion forum, sued Anthropic on Wednesday, alleging that the AI biz scraped content generated by its users in violation of contractual terms and technical barriers.

The complaint [PDF], filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday, claims Anthropic's use of scraper bots to collect Reddit violates the site's User Agreement and represents unfair competition under California law.

While other AI giants have entered into licensing agreements and respect users’ choice, Anthropic has not

"Anthropic is a late-blooming artificial intelligence ('AI') company that bills itself as the white knight of the AI industry," the complaint says. "It is anything but. Anthropic says – often and loudly – that it 'prioritize[s] honesty' and is guided by 'unusually high trust.' These claims are empty marketing gimmicks."

The legal filing argues that Anthropic has intentionally trained its models on the personal data of Reddit users without requesting consent. It ...