Perplexity disputes copyright allegations

News Corp has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, accusing it of illegally copying its content.
Perplexity has pledged to fight the copyright claims by Dow Jones and the New York Post, calling them misleading.

Perplexity has vowed to contest the copyright infringement claims filed by Dow Jones and the New York Post. The California-based AI company denied the accusations in a blog post, calling them misleading. News Corp, owner of both media entities, launched the lawsuit on Monday, accusing Perplexity of extensive illegal copying of its content.

The conflict began after the two publishers allegedly contacted Perplexity in July with concerns over unauthorised use of their work, proposing a licensing agreement. According to Perplexity, the startup replied the same day, but the media companies decided to move forward with legal action instead of continuing discussions.

CEO Aravind Srinivas expressed his surprise over the lawsuit at the WSJ Tech Live event on Wednesday, noting the company had hoped for dialogue instead. He emphasised Perplexity’s commitment to defending itself against what it considers an unwarranted attack.

Perplexity is challenging Google’s dominance in the search engine market by providing summarised information from trusted sources directly through its platform. The case reflects ongoing tensions between publishers and tech firms over the use of copyrighted content for AI development.