BBC threatens legal action against AI startup Perplexity over content scraping
publishers have raised alarms about chatbots that comb the internet to find information and create paragraph summaries for users. PHOTO: REUTERS
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 (FT) reported on June 20, making the British broadcaster the latest news organisation to accuse the AI firm of content scraping.
The BBC may seek an injunction unless Perplexity stops scraping its content, deletes existing copies used to train its AI systems, and submits 'a proposal for financial compensation' for the alleged misuse of its intellectual property, FT said, citing a letter sent to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas.
The broadcaster confirmed the FT report in a statement to Reuters.
Perplexity has faced accusations from media organisations, including Forbes and Wired, for plagiarising their content but has since launched a revenue-sharing programme to address publisher concerns.
Last October, the New York Times sent it a 'cease and desist' notice, demanding the firm stop using the newspaper's content for generative AI purposes.
Since the introduction of ChatGPT, publishers have raised alarms about chatbots that comb the internet to find information and create paragraph summaries for users.
The BBC said parts of its content were reproduced verbatim by Perplexity, and that links to the BBC website have appeared in search results, according to the FT report.
Perplexity called the BBC's claims 'manipulative and opportunistic' in a statement to Reuters, adding that the broadcaster has 'a fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property law'.
Perplexity provides information by searching the internet, similar to ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, and is backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, AI giant Nvidia and Japan's SoftBank Group.
The startup is in advanced talks to raise US$500 million (S$642 million) in a funding round that would value it at US$14 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported in May. REUTERS
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