Perplexity, a startup developing generative AI tools, has responded to a lawsuit filed by News Corp earlier this week. The lawsuit alleges that Perplexity engaged in large-scale copyright violations against Dow Jones and the NY Post. Several other media organizations, including Forbes, The New York Times, and Wired, have made similar accusations against the company.
In a blog post released on Thursday, Perplexity pushed back against the allegations, stating that media companies collectively wish generative AI technology didn’t exist. “There are around three dozen lawsuits by media companies against generative AI tools. The common theme betrayed by those complaints collectively is that they wish this technology didn’t exist,” the Perplexity team wrote. They argued that media companies prefer a world where publicly reported facts are owned by corporations, and anyone using these facts must pay a toll.
Perplexity’s response comes across as grandiose, with the company making several broad claims about the media industry without providing substantial evidence. The blog post exceeded 600 words but lacked concrete facts to back up its assertions. Perplexity justified this by stating, “This is not the place to get into the weeds of it all.”
The tone of the blog post marks a significant shift from Perplexity’s previous interactions with media companies that power its AI search engine. Perplexity described the lawsuit as “fundamentally shortsighted, unnecessary, and self-defeating,” highlighting an adversarial relationship between the media and tech industries.
Notably, Perplexity avoided addressing the central claim of the lawsuit: that it allegedly copies content on a massive scale from publishers and competes with them for the same audience. Instead, the company maintained that media companies like News Corp wish AI tools didn’t exist. This claim is difficult to justify, given that News Corp has a multi-year partnership with OpenAI to display its journalists’ work within ChatGPT. Perplexity also partners with several legacy media companies, including Time, Fortune, and Der Spiegel, through a revenue-sharing program.
The facts suggest that many media companies are dissatisfied with the deals offered by Perplexity and other AI companies. Perplexity addressed other claims mentioned in the lawsuit, such as News Corp’s assertion that it regurgitates full articles. The startup claimed it responded to News Corp’s outreach, contrary to the lawsuit’s allegations. Perplexity also speculated that News Corp might not use the examples cited in its complaint in the actual case, suggesting these examples are invalid.
While Perplexity’s public response is largely deflective, its court filings may provide a more detailed picture of the events and trends at play. The lawsuit’s progression will reveal more about the validity of the claims made by both parties.
