Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones and New York Post Sue Perplexity AI for Copyright Infringement

 

Rupert Murdoch’s media entities, Dow Jones and the New York Post, have filed a lawsuit against the artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, alleging that the company engages in extensive illegal copying of their copyrighted materials. The lawsuit was lodged on Monday in the Southern District of New York and represents a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between publishers and tech firms regarding the use of copyrighted content in AI systems.

The lawsuit claims that Perplexity has implemented a scheme that allows it to compete for readers while taking advantage of the valuable content produced by news publishers. According to the suit, the AI startup collects information from various authoritative web pages and generates summaries, which it presents directly within its platform. Perplexity utilizes multiple large language models, including those from OpenAI and Meta's Llama, to generate these summaries.

The plaintiffs argue that while Perplexity provides citations in its responses, its marketing promotes an interface that allows users to “skip the links,” effectively bypassing the original sources of the information. The lawsuit emphasizes the difference between search engines, which are seen as platforms for discovering content, and Perplexity, which the publishers argue substitutes their work instead of directing readers to it.

In the suit, the publishers express concern over the financial implications of Perplexity’s practices. They stress that their journalists work under tight deadlines and high demand for timely news, relying on advertising and subscriptions to fund quality journalism. The lawsuit alleges that Perplexity's AI system has copied vast amounts of their copyrighted articles, analyses, and opinions into an internal database, which is then used to generate responses to user inquiries.

The publishers claim that Perplexity’s method of generating responses sometimes reproduces their content verbatim, constituting a violation of copyright laws. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson stated, “Perplexity perpetrates an abuse of intellectual property that harms journalists, writers, publishers and News Corp.”

This lawsuit adds to the growing list of media organizations taking legal action against AI companies for unauthorized content use, which has included similar actions from the New York Times, which recently issued a cease-and-desist notice to Perplexity. Other publications, including Forbes and Wired, have also accused the company of plagiarism.

In response to these concerns, Perplexity has launched a revenue-sharing program to address publisher grievances. While some media organizations are starting to enter licensing agreements with AI companies willing to compensate them for content, disputes over the valuation of such content remain common. Many AI developers assert that they are not violating any laws by accessing information for free.

In a recent development, News Corp announced a multi-year partnership with OpenAI, highlighting a collaborative approach to harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence while recognizing the importance of integrity and creativity in the process.