- Perplexity has faced accusations from media organizations including Forbes and Wired that it plagiarized their content.
LONDON: The BBC has threatened legal action against Perplexity, accusing the AI startup of training its “default AI model” using BBC content, the Financial Times reported on Friday, making the British broadcaster the latest news organisation to accuse an AI firm of stealing content.
The BBC could seek an injunction if Perplexity does not stop copying its content, delete existing copies used to train its AI systems, and provide “an offer of financial compensation” for the alleged misuse of its intellectual property, the FT reports, citing a letter sent to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas.
The broadcaster confirmed the FT report on Friday.
Perplexity has faced accusations from media organizations including Forbes and Wired that it plagiarized its content, but has since launched a revenue-sharing program to address publisher concerns.
Last October, the New York Times sent the company a “cease and desist” notice, demanding that it stop using the paper’s content for generative AI purposes.
Since the introduction of ChatGPT, publishers have been sounding the alarm about chatbots that scour the internet for information and create digests for users.
According to the FT, the BBC said some of its content was reproduced verbatim by Perplexity, with links to the BBC website appearing in search results.
Perplexity, in a statement to Reuters, called the BBC's claims “manipulative and opportunistic”, adding that the broadcaster had a “fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property rights”.
Perplexity provides information by searching the web, similar to Google's ChatGPT and Gemini, and is backed by Amazon.com (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos, AI giant Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T).
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the startup was in advanced talks to raise $500 million in a funding round that would value it at $14 billion.
