New York Times sues Perplexity AI for ‘illegal’ copying of content

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New York Times sues Perplexity AI for ‘illegal’ copying of content

By Jaspreet Singh
Publication Date: 2025-12-05 16:38:00

  • Perplexity faces multiple lawsuits from publishers
  • NYT seeks damages and injunctive relief against the startup
  • The Times has earlier sent cease and desist notice to Perplexity
Dec 5 (Reuters) – The New York Times (NYT.N), opens new tab filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI on Friday, claiming that the artificial intelligence startup was copying, distributing and displaying millions of its articles without permission to power its generative AI products.

The startup has become a target of multiple legal disputes and faces similar accusations from a number of publishers as it tries to aggressively carve out a share of the hyper-competitive market for generative AI tools.

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The Times also claimed that the startup’s generative AI products created fabricated content, or “hallucinations,” and falsely attributed them to the newspaper by displaying them alongside its registered trademarks.

It said that Perplexity’s business model relied on scraping and copying content, including paywalled material.

“While we believe in the ethical and responsible use and development of AI, we firmly object to Perplexity’s unlicensed use of our content to develop and promote their products,” NYT spokesperson Graham James said in a statement, opens new tab.

The NYT is seeking damages, injunctive relief and other equitable remedies to prevent Perplexity from continuing its alleged unauthorized use of content.

Perplexity was also sued by the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, opens new tab.

The startup’s…

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