"AI search engine Perplexity is facing a new headache amid its fraught relationship with publishers: another copyright lawsuit. The suit is filed on behalf of two of Japan's largest media groups, Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun, and accuses the company of copying and storing article content and ignoring a "technical measure" designed to prevent this from happening. The media groups are seeking damages of ¥2.2bn ($15mn) each."
"Perplexity's AI-powered "answer machine" crawls websites to access content, then uses that material to generate concise answers for users that include citations. The answers summarizeinformation from multiple sources, including news articles. Many news publishers however worry that the rise of AI search engines such as Perplexity could be an existential threat to the industry, diverting audiences away from their websites and undermining their advertising and subscription models."
"Perplexity also recently launched a program allowing publishers to share revenue generated from their content through its Comet web browser and AI assistant. The startup has allocated $42.5 million for the initiative, with publishers receiving 80% of revenue from a new subscription tier, Comet Plus. Publishers will earn money when their articles drive traffic through Comet, appear in search queries, or assist users via the AI assistant."
Two of Japan's largest media groups, Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun, have filed a copyright lawsuit claiming Perplexity copied and stored article content and ignored a technical measure, seeking ¥2.2bn each. The lawsuit complicates Perplexity's efforts to maintain relationships with news publishers whose content informs its AI answers. Perplexity's AI crawls websites to generate concise, cited answers, prompting publisher concerns about audience diversion and revenue loss. Perplexity has signed revenue-sharing partnerships with several outlets and launched a Comet program allocating $42.5 million, offering publishers 80% of Comet Plus revenue when their content drives engagement.
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