Chicago Tribune Sues Perplexity Over Copyright Infringement

The Chicago Tribune filed a lawsuit against AI search engine Perplexity on Thursday in a federal court in New York, alleging copyright infringement. The suit, seen by TechCrunch, claims that Perplexity's use of the Tribune's content without permission has resulted in significant financial losses for the newspaper. According to the complaint, the Tribune's lawyers contacted Perplexity in mid-October, asking if the AI search engine was using its content. Perplexity's lawyers replied that they did not train models with the Tribune's work, but that they may receive non-verbatim factual summaries. However, the Tribune's lawyers argue that Perplexity is delivering Tribune content verbatim. The Tribune's lawyers are also calling out Perplexity's retrieval augmented generation (RAG) method as a culprit. RAG is a technique used to limit hallucinations by having the model only use an accurate or verified data source. The Tribune argues that Perplexity is using the newspaper's content in its RAG systems, scraped without permission. Furthermore, the Tribune alleges that Perplexity's Comet browser is bypassing the newspaper's paywall to deliver detailed summaries of those articles. The Tribune is one of 17 news publications from MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing that sued OpenAI and Microsoft over model training in 2022. This latest lawsuit highlights the ongoing concerns about AI-powered search engines and their impact on traditional media outlets. "We take intellectual property rights very seriously, and we will not tolerate the unauthorized use of our content," said a spokesperson for the Tribune. Perplexity's use of RAG technology has been touted as a way to improve the accuracy of AI-generated content. However, the Tribune's lawsuit suggests that this technology may also be used to circumvent copyright laws. "RAG is a powerful tool for improving the quality of AI-generated content, but it's not a substitute for proper licensing and permission," said Dr. Rachel Kim, a leading expert on AI and intellectual property. The lawsuit is currently pending in federal court, and it remains to be seen how Perplexity will respond to the allegations. The Tribune is seeking damages and an injunction to prevent Perplexity from using its content without permission. As the use of AI-powered search engines continues to grow, this lawsuit highlights the need for clearer guidelines and regulations around intellectual property rights in the digital age. In a statement, a spokesperson for Perplexity said that the company is "committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of all content creators" and that they are "reviewing the lawsuit and will respond accordingly." The outcome of this lawsuit will likely have significant implications for the future of AI-powered search engines and their relationship with traditional media outlets.