CNN sues Perplexity over ‘verbatim’ copycat articles

CNN has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, claiming that the startup’s AI tools generate “verbatim” copies of its work, as reported earlier by CNN. The lawsuit, filed in a New York court on Thursday, also alleges that Perplexity provides users with information locked behind CNN’s subscription. Perplexity, which offers an AI “answer” engine along with the AI browser Comet, is accused of ignoring CNN’s efforts “to recognize or block Perplexity’s unidentified crawlers” from scraping its content. “Human beings report, research, write, edit, and create the content that Perplexity takes without permission or compensation,” the lawsuit claims. In one instance, CNN accuses Perplexity’s AI search tool of producing “substantial” verbatim portions of its article, “What’s next for Minneapolis? A shaky promise, mounting tensions and the fight for control,” by simply prompting the tool with its title. CNN joins a long list of companies that are suing Perplexity for copyright infringement, including The New York Times, Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, and The Wall Street Journal’s parent company, News Corp. Perplexity is also facing lawsuits from Amazon and Reddit. As alleged in the lawsuit, CNN says its deal to offer its content through Perplexity’s Comet Plus subscription in October 2025 “did not lead to a final agreement between the parties due to the inability to agree on multiple issues, including limits on Perplexity’s use of CNN content in its answers to users.” CNN scrapped the agreement in November and later wrote a letter to Perplexity, demanding that it stop using its content and trademarks without permission. Perplexity allegedly didn’t respond. CNN is seeking damages and a permanent block on Perplexity’s allegedly unlawful conduct. When reached for comment, Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said, “You can’t copyright facts.”