Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine and rival to OpenAI, has announced it will begin paying publishers for their content. According to the San Francisco-based startup, its media partners will receive compensation when their content is utilized by the Perplexity search browser or AI assistant to answer user queries. The company’s team described the move as “a model fit for the AI era” in a blog post.
The payments will be administered through a new subscription service, dubbed Comet Plus, set to launch in the coming months. The startup describes this program as one designed to ensure publishers and journalists benefit from new AI-enabled business models. Perplexity has allocated an initial fund of $42.5 million to be shared with publishers, which it expects to grow over time. “As the web has evolved beyond information to include knowledge, action, and opportunity, the content from publishers and journalists matters even more,” Perplexity stated.
As one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent startups, Perplexity’s AI-driven search engine is often cited as a potential threat to Google. However, the company has recently faced legal challenges from major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, which allege the startup has unfairly profited from their copyrighted work. One lawsuit specifically accuses Perplexity of illegally copying and reproducing protected content from The Wall Street Journal and New York Post to train its AI “answer engine.” This new revenue-sharing model could be seen as an overture to mend relations with the publishing industry.
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