CNN initiates legal action against Perplexity over alleged copyright infringement
The lawsuit alleges the AI search engine provider unlawfully copied thousands of stories, videos and images to power competing content, intensifying the regulatory battle between traditional publishers and artificial intelligence developers.
CNN has filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court against artificial intelligence search engine provider Perplexity, alleging the company unlawfully copied thousands of its stories, videos and images to power its products. The complaint, lodged on Thursday, asserts that Perplexity distributed content that is identical or substantially similar to CNN’s original reporting, thereby violating intellectual property rights.
The Warner Bros-owned news network is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to block Perplexity from continuing to violate its copyright protections. In a statement regarding the filing, CNN argued that a company valued at tens of billions of dollars should not be permitted to exploit the original content created by entities that fund newsgathering. The network contends that such practices undermine the economic incentives necessary for original journalism.
Perplexity responded to the allegations by maintaining that facts cannot be copyrighted. Jesse Dwyer, a spokesperson for the AI firm, issued a statement reiterating this position in direct response to the lawsuit. The dispute highlights the ongoing tension between technology firms utilising large language models and copyright owners concerned about the repurposing of their work without compensation.
This legal action marks the latest in a series of high-stakes challenges brought against Perplexity by major news publishers. The AI search engine is currently facing similar lawsuits from The New York Times, Reddit and Dow Jones, all of which allege that the company has infringed copyrights and unlawfully scraped data to train its technology.
The litigation reflects a broader conflict that has intensified since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022. While some news organisations have entered into licensing deals with technology companies to secure verified access and compensation, others have pursued legal remedies. Last year, Anthropic became the first AI company to settle a class action lawsuit from a group of authors, agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to resolve the claims.
