CNN files suit against Perplexity alleging unlawful content distribution

Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

May 28 : CNN on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, alleging the AI search engine provider is unlawfully distributing its copyrighted content, marking the latest legal tussle between the AI firm and a news publisher. 

"CNN's lawsuit stands for the proposition that Perplexity, a company valued at tens of billions of dollars, should not be able to steal from entities that create the original content Perplexity exploits," the Warner Bros.-owned news company said in a statement. 

The CNN suit is the latest in a series of legal challenges brought against Perplexity, which uses AI to scour websites and answer users' queries, alleging the company has infringed on copyrighted content and unlawfully scraped data to train its technology.

Perplexity is facing lawsuits from the New York Times, Reddit and Dow Jones, among others.  

CNA Games

Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time

Buzzword
Create words using the given letters

Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser

Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge

Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less

"The public rely on high-quality news journalism reported by human beings to understand their world, which is frequently dangerous and expensive to produce. Commercial operators can and must pay to make use of it," the CNN statement said. 

"We prefer that they do so through sensible licensing arrangements, but if they refuse to do that as Perplexity has so far refused to do, they will have to pay through legal damages. There is no free option."

Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022, news publishers and writers have been concerned about their content being repurposed to appear in the results of a chatbot query, sparking battles over copyright, compensation and ownership. 

Several news firms have now signed licensing deals and partnerships with Big Tech and generative AI companies to ensure that their models have access to verified sources of news, while also compensating publishers and linking back to original articles. 

Newsletter

Week in Review

Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review

Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.

Sign up for our newsletters

Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox

Subscribe here

Get the CNA app

Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories

Download here

Get WhatsApp alerts

Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app

Join here