Reddit bought the machine learning platform “Spell” at an undisclosed amount

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Shubham Sawarkar is a technology journalist at GadgetBond, covering Apple, AI, consumer technology, software, gadgets, and product launches. His work explores emerging technologies, industry developments, product...

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Jun 17, 2022, 2:30 PM EDT

The online forum and discussion platform Reddit recently bought “Spell” a machine learning (ML) platform at an undisclosed amount. Serkan Piantino, a former engineer at Facebook (parent company Meta), founded the Spell platform in 2016. The platform offers cloud computing services that let users run resource-intensive machine learning experiments without expensive hardware.

“Spell has made product experimentation scalable, enabling engineers to efficiently build and run tests on a platform that already integrates the best high-powered computing in a simple UI that makes it simple for non-technical teams to understand and track,” Reddit Chief Product Officer Pali Bhat said in a blog post. “Serkan and his team are a great fit and we look forward to seeing how their capabilities and talent help us make Reddit simpler, richer, and more relevant.”

TechCrunch states, “the platform will shut access to new commercial customers in the midst of the acquisition.” The report also suggests that some of the team members will move to Reddit and work on machine learning projects such as how Reddit customizes ad placements and keeps its communities safe.

According to the Spell acquisition blog “the best possible platform for anyone looking to develop powerful, reliable, and safe software using machine learning and AI.”

The giant online forum recently launched its Community Fund program with a $1 million investment. The company said that it has been experimenting with Community Funds to help Reddit community ideas and passions come to life with financial support.

“Through our experiment, we funded 13 projects that communities nominated. Projects have included a comics tournament, a community-designed musical artist billboard in Times Square, and a digital conference for history buffs,” the company said in a blogpost.

The company had said to invite communities to submit ideas for projects, events, and contests from June.

Reddit also added the ability to search comments for the first time to help improve search results for its more than 50 million daily users.