New York Times Escalates Legal Fight, Sues AI Search Startup Perplexity for Copyright Infringement

The New York Times has filed a major lawsuit against AI search company Perplexity. The suit alleges systematic copyright infringement. This legal action was filed in U.S. court this week.It marks the second major lawsuit The Times has launched against an artificial intelligence firm. The move signals a significant escalation in the media industry’s battle over AI training data and revenue.

Core Allegations: Scraping Paywalled Content and Repackaging Stories

According to the lawsuit, Perplexity’s AI products improperly use Times content. The company’s systems allegedly crawl the internet and access articles behind the publisher’s paywall. This content is then summarized or reproduced for Perplexity’s users.The Times claims this directly substitutes for its own subscription service. A spokesperson stated the content should only be for paying subscribers. The suit specifically targets Perplexity’s “retrieval-augmented generation” technology.This technique, known as RAG, allows AI to pull real-time data from websites. The Times argues this constitutes stealing. The company also claims Perplexity has “hallucinated” false information and wrongly attributed it to the paper, damaging its brand.

Broader Industry Impact: Lawsuits as Negotiation Leverage

This lawsuit is part of a wider media industry strategy. Publishers are using legal pressure to force AI companies to the negotiating table. The goal is to establish formal licensing deals that compensate content creators.Other major publishers have joined similar legal actions. The Chicago Tribune also sued Perplexity recently. News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, has made parallel claims.Perplexity responded to TechCrunch by comparing the suits to historical publisher pushback against radio and TV. The company insists such legal challenges have never ultimately stopped technological progress. However, past settlements have created new licensing norms.Some publishers are choosing deals over litigation. The Times itself recently signed a content licensing agreement with Amazon. OpenAI has struck deals with several major outlets, including The Associated Press and Axel Springer.

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The outcome of this New York Times lawsuit could set a critical precedent for how AI companies use copyrighted news material. The media giant is seeking both monetary damages and a permanent ban on Perplexity’s use of its content.

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What is Perplexity accused of doing?

The New York Times alleges Perplexity’s AI crawls its website and accesses paywalled articles. It then summarizes or republishes this content in its own chatbot answers without permission or payment.

Has The Times sued other AI companies?

Yes. This is its second major AI lawsuit. The Times is also currently suing OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming they trained AI models on millions of its articles without a license.

How has Perplexity responded to publisher concerns?

Perplexity launched a “Publishers’ Program” offering some outlets a share of ad revenue. It also recently signed a licensing deal with Getty Images for image data.

What are other major publishers doing about AI scraping?

Many are pursuing a dual strategy. Some, like the Chicago Tribune, are filing lawsuits. Others, like The Atlantic, have signed licensing agreements with AI firms like OpenAI for compensation.

What legal concept is at the center of these disputes?

The core debate is over “fair use.” AI companies often argue training on public data is fair use. Publishers contend commercial repackaging of their specific reporting is infringement.