CNN sues Perplexity over copyright claims

CNN has sued Perplexity in a New York federal court, accusing the AI search company of unlawfully copying and distributing its copyrighted content, Reuters reported.

The lawsuit alleges that Perplexity copied thousands of CNN stories, videos and images to power its products and then distributed “identical or substantially similar” content that competes with CNN.

Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer told Reuters, “You can’t copyright facts.” CNN is seeking monetary damages and a court order to stop Perplexity from violating its intellectual property rights.

CNN said in a statement 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 lawsuit adds to a growing wave of copyright cases brought by publishers and content owners against AI companies over the use of news and creative works in AI systems.

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

Several publishers have taken a different route by signing licensing deals with AI companies to secure compensation and attribution for their content.