While I disagree with u/spez's actions, I understand his perspective. Reddit's most valuable asset is its curated text data for training Large Language Models like ChatGPT. Closing down the API protects that asset. He's likely betting that subreddit moderation will be solved with LLMs so the mods that generated that data are of little concern going forward. There will be only one chance to monetize this data asset.
The reason I disagree with u/spez's actions is because I don't believe this asset belongs to him. I'm sure he's protected from a legal perspective but from a philosophical perspective, when a user writes an idea on an online forum, they don't forfeit ownership of that idea. People who contributed to Reddit even 12 months ago had no idea their thoughts will be monetized and consumed by LLMs. We need laws to protect people's data and to democratize data assets.
I also wish u/spez would just be honest about what he's doing. Telling possibly career ending lies about developers and disregarding the mods that made Reddit is inexcusable. It's clear that Reddit has succeeded despite u/spez's leadership.