Murdoch’s Dow Jones, New York Post sue Perplexity AI for ‘illegal’ copying of content

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s companies, Dow Jones and the New York Post, filed a lawsuit on Monday against AI startup Perplexity AI, accusing the company of “massive illegal copying” of their copyrighted content. This lawsuit marks the latest clash between publishers and tech firms over the unauthorized use of copyrighted material to develop AI systems. The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, argues that Perplexity’s platform “freerides” on valuable content created by publishers while competing for readers.

Perplexity AI, which is emerging as a competitor to Google in the search engine market, gathers and summarizes information from various authoritative sources using large language models like OpenAI and Meta’s Llama. Although Perplexity provides citations, its marketing claims users can “skip the links,” implying they need not visit the original sources. The company has not yet responded to requests for comment.

The lawsuit reflects a broader tension between the media industry and AI companies, as traditional publishers seek to protect their intellectual property from being exploited by AI models that use vast amounts of data without proper compensation.

This legal action is part of a growing movement by publishers demanding more stringent regulations and fair compensation from tech firms whose AI systems rely on their content. As AI tools like Perplexity continue to rise in prominence, this case could set a significant precedent regarding how copyrighted content is utilized in AI development and the responsibilities tech companies have in ensuring proper content usage.