The New York Times (NYT) news agency has filed a lawsuit against the artificial intelligence (AI)-based search engine developer, Perplexity, for alleged copyright infringement.
the lawsuit was filed on Friday (5/12) and is the NYT's second lawsuit against an AI company, after previously suing OpenAI and Microsoft.
In the lawsuit, the NYT accuses Perplexity of providing commercial products that replace media functions without permission or compensation. The Chicago Tribune also filed a similar lawsuit against Perplexity this week, preceding the NYT.
Perplexity is assessed using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology to collect information from various websites, then repackage the content in the form of written answers to users.
NYT alleges that the results are often complete or nearly identical copies of their original content, including paid articles that should only be accessible to subscribers.
NYT spokesperson Graham James emphasized that the company strongly opposes the use of unlicensed content to develop and promote AI products. He added that the media company will continue to pursue legal action against those who disregard the value of journalistic work.
The NYT also accused Perplexity of producing false information and misattributing sources to the NYT, thereby damaging the media company's reputation.
The lawsuit also comes more than a year after the NYT sent Perplexity a warning letter in October 2024, demanding that the company stop using its content for summaries and other AI output.
