By BestMediaInfo Bureau
Publication Date: 2026-05-29 05:06:00
New Delhi: CNN had sued AI startup Perplexity, alleging that the company illegally copied and distributed its news content.
According to media reports, the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, marked CNN’s first copyright case related to artificial intelligence and was also believed to be the first such legal action by a television network.
According to media reports, CNN said Perplexity used its journalism without permission to power its AI-driven services. The network maintained that news organisations invest heavily in producing reliable journalism and that AI companies should compensate publishers for using their content.
The case added to a growing list of legal battles between publishers and AI firms. Media companies, including The New York Times, News Corp, Chicago Tribune, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, had also initiated legal proceedings against Perplexity in recent years.
According to the filing, CNN and Perplexity had previously explored a possible licensing partnership last year but failed to reach an agreement. CNN claimed the AI firm was aware that it did not have permission to access or use CNN’s content and trademarks.
Perplexity, however, defended its position by arguing that facts themselves cannot be copyrighted. The company had earlier stated in separate legal responses that efforts to restrict AI systems from using publicly available information went against long-standing principles of…
