CNN has sued Perplexity AI for “unlawfully copying and distributing” the network’s content without permission — going as far as to say that the artificial intelligence-powered answer engine is even misleading people into thinking the companies have a working relationship.
Perplexity’s response to TheWrap: “You can’t copyright facts.”
The lawsuit filed Thursday in United States District Court – Southern District of New York also alleges that Perplexity actively knew it did not have the network’s consent to have its news content funneled to users through AI chatbots due to a prior, terminated short-form agreement.
“CNN actively embraces the opportunities AI creates. We have been engaged in the AI licensing marketplace for years, with multiple commercial partnerships, active agreements, and ongoing discussions with responsible industry players,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement. “CNN’s lawsuit stands for the proposition that Perplexity, a company valued at tens of billions of dollars, should not be able to steal from entities that create the original content Perplexity exploits.”
“The public rely on high quality news journalism reported by human beings to understand their world, which is frequently dangerous and expensive to produce. Commercial operators can and must pay to make use of it,” the statement continued. “We prefer that they do so through sensible licensing arrangements, but if they refuse to do that as Perplexity has so far refused to do, they will have to pay through legal damages. There is no free option.”
Thursday’s filing marks CNN’s first lawsuit against an AI company, and perhaps the first from a broadcaster. The New York Times, The New York Post, Dow Jones and Reddit have all filed similar suits against the AI startup over the last two years.
“CNN’s short form agreement did not lead to a final agreement between the parties due to the inability to agree on multiple issues, including limits on Perplexity’s use of CNN content in its answers to users,” the lawsuit reads. “As a result, before and after Perplexity’s negotiations with CNN, Perplexity knew that it was not permitted to access CNN’s content or to use its trademarks or service marks.”
“When you ask Perplexity chatbot ‘What is comet plus?’ Perplexity responds by falsely claiming CNN is part of Perplexity’s ‘premium news bundle’ under Comet Plus ‘similar in spirit to Apple News Plus,’” the legal documents further note. “Perplexity generates fabricated content that claims that its users can pay to upgrade and get access to CNN’s premium content, when no such option exists, thereby falsely claiming an affiliation between Perplexity and CNN that does not exist.”
