New York Times Sues Perplexity AI in Copyright Violation Legal Battle
In Focus
- New York Times accuses Perplexity AI of using its content illegally
- The publisher claims the AI firm ignored two “cease and desist” orders
- The media outlet wants Perplexity AI to remove its content from its platforms
The New York Times has expanded its legal battle against AI firms. According to Yahoo Finance, the media house has sued Perplexity AI for copyright infringement, claiming that it uses and profits from its content unlawfully.
In the latest legal dispute, the New York Times alleges that Perplexity AI crawls its content without permission and repackages it into “verbatim or near-verbatim” responses for its users. The media company further claims that the AI firm infringes on its copyright by accessing its podcasts, videos, and images.
New York Times Alleges Violation of Intellectual Property
The New York Times litigation also accuses Perplexity AI of fabricating content and attributing it to the media outlet falsely. The news outlet also claims that Perplexity’s Comet AI assistant, which the AI firm added to the Android app, generated detailed summaries of its articles.
“Perplexity has violated the protections that intellectual property law provides for The Times’s expressive, original journalism,” the New York Times claimed in its filing in New York as stated by Yahoo Finance.
Perplexity AI is facing multiple lawsuits over copyright infringement. Recently, Reddit sued the AI startup for scraping its data and using it to train its AI models. The Chicago Tribune has also taken legal action against Perplexity AI for copyright infringement.
Perplexity AI Ignored “Cease and Desist” Orders
Perplexity AI and New York Times have had a strained relationship for over a year. In October 2024, the news outlet issued a “cease and desist” order to Perplexity AI, asking it to stop accessing and publishing its content without authorization. The publisher sent a second order to Perplexity AI in July 2025. However, the AI firm continued accessing and using its content unlawfully despite the orders.
“We are very much interested in working with every single publisher. We have no interest in being anyone’s antagonist here,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas had said in response to the 2024 cease-and-desist notice as stated by Yahoo Finance.
In the latest New York Times court escalation, the publisher wants the court to issue an injunction, which is an order requiring Perplexity AI to remove its content from its platforms. The news outlet is also suing for damages as relief for copyright infringement.
Publishers’ Mixed Strategy to Copyright Issues
As copyright issues emerge, content publishers are partnering and signing licensing deals with some AI firms. Publishers are also filing lawsuits against other AI labs in a bid to get compensation for the use of their content.
Last year, several media outlets sued Perplexity for copyright infringement. In the lawsuit, the New York Post and Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones alleged that the AI startup engages in illegal copying of their copyrighted content. Recently, a court dismissed Perplexity AI’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.
