Chicago Tribune sues Perplexity AI for copyright infringement
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The Chicago Tribune is the latest media organization to sue an AI company for what it says is copyright infringement.
Why it matters: Media outlets argue AI is the latest assault on the newspaper industry. The Tribune's complaint against Perplexity AI argues that distributing the newspaper's original reporting allows readers to bypass its print and web versions, decreasing traffic and ad revenue.
Driving the news: The Tribune filed its lawsuit against Perplexity, which calls itself the "free AI-powered answer engine," in New York this month. The New York Times filed a separate suit against the company the day after the Tribune, also accusing the company of copyright infringement.
Between the lines: The Tribune's claim also accuses Perplexity of distributing fabricated content, also known as "hallucinations," next to the Tribune's trademark, making the mistakes appear as mistakes by the paper's reporters and editors.
The other side: "Publishers have been suing new tech companies for a hundred years, starting with radio, TV, the internet, social media and now AI. Fortunately, it's never worked, or we'd all be talking about this by telegraph," Jesse Dwyer, Perplexity's head of communication, tells Axios in a statement.
What they're saying: "From the creative standpoint, if you allow [newspapers'] information that [they] have built and paid for and cultivated to be used for free, that is going to impact [newspapers' ability] ability to stay financially viable and to even exist," Michael McCready, a Chicago attorney who closely follows AI in the legal field, tells Axios.
Zoom out: Forty copyright holders have sued AI companies, the New York Times reports.
- McCready says this is uncharted territory, like the early days of the internet, and it will likely mean legislative action on the Copyright Act.
- "Copyright law protects creative people. If you are going to create something, you have the right to monetize it. Otherwise, everything would be free," he says.
The bottom line: The court will have to decide, but this is the new battlefield for newspapers.