By jurist.org
Publication Date: 2025-12-08 22:12:00
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI on Friday, alleging it was using the news organization’s articles without permission in summaries for search requests made through its generative AI products.
The artificial intelligence startup is the subject of numerous similar legal disputes from media companies, including The Chicago Tribune, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Dow Jones, that all take issue with the AI startup’s “answer engine” that allegedly uses their news, analysis, and opinion-based content to answer queries with the intent to summarize and, therefore, substitute one reading the actual content. “Perplexity has engaged in illegal conduct that threatens this legacy and impedes the free press’s ability to continue playing its role in supporting an informed citizenry and a healthy democracy,” The New York Times lawsuit states. “Through its large-scale, unlawful copying and distribution of The Times’s copyrighted content, Perplexity provides commercial products to its own users that substitute for The Times, without permission or remuneration and, in fact, over The Times’s express and repeated objections.”
Perplexity AI’s advertisement language pitches itself as an alternative to search engines that produce links to traditional news media content, requiring reading through reporting to get the full picture of a story or issue. “Perplexity functions as an intelligent research assistant, streamlining your information gathering by…
