New York Times and Chicago Tribune Sue Perplexity AI for Copyright Infringement
The New York Times and Chicago Tribune filed separate federal lawsuits against Perplexity AI in December 2025, alleging the company unlawfully scraped and reproduced their copyrighted content without authorization to generate responses to user queries. Perplexity disputed the claims, arguing that publishers have historically sued new technology companies unsuccessfully.
What happened
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in the Southern District of New York on Friday, alleging the company unlawfully scraped The Times' stories, videos, podcasts and other content to formulate responses to user queries. The startup generates outputs that are 'identical or substantially similar to' The Times' content, according to the complaint.
The Chicago Tribune filed a similar copyright lawsuit against Perplexity on Thursday, also arguing that Perplexity scraped and distributed its content without authorization.
Reported impact
Graham James, a spokesperson for The Times, stated: 'While we believe in the ethical and responsible use and development of AI, we firmly object to Perplexity's unlicensed use of our content to develop and promote their products.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.