CNN sues Perplexity over 'verbatim' copycat articles

Source: The Verge

CNN has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, claiming that the startup’s AI tools generate “verbatim” copies of its work, as reported earlier by CNN. The lawsuit, filed in a New York court on Thursday, also alleges that Perplexity provides users with information locked behind CNN’s subscription.

Perplexity, which offers an AI “answer” engine along with the AI browser Comet, is accused of ignoring CNN’s efforts “to recognize or block Perplexity’s unidentified crawlers” from scraping its content. “Human beings report, research, write, edit, and create the content that Perplexity takes without permission or compensation,” the lawsuit claims.

In one instance, CNN accuses Perplexity’s AI search tool of producing “substantial” verbatim portions of its article, “What’s next for Minneapolis? A shaky promise, mounting tensions and the fight for control,” by simply prompting the tool with its title. CNN joins a long list of companies that are suing Perplexity for copyright infringement, including The New York Times, Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, and The Wall Street Journal’s parent company, News Corp. Perplexity is also facing lawsuits from Amazon and Reddit.

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CNN is seeking damages and a permanent block on Perplexity’s allegedly unlawful conduct. When reached for comment, Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said, “You can’t copyright facts.”

Read more: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/938893/cnn-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit

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That last paragraph's statement from a Perplexity spox suggests they think they have a right to plagiarize any non-fiction they can get to.

Perplexity is partly funded by Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm with Donald Trump Jr. as a partner. Junior's involvement might be part of why they seem so unconcerned about all the lawsuits.