Japanese publishers are taking legal action against Perplexity AI, the AI chatbot startup valued at $18 billion. Nikkei Inc. and The Asahi Shimbun Co. filed lawsuits in the Tokyo District Court, each seeking an injunction and ¥2.2 billion (about $15 million) in damages.
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The two companies claim that Perplexity copied, stored, and reproduced their news content without permission. They argue the startup ignored coding on their sites that blocked such use and say this practice has been happening since at least June last year. Furthermore, they allege that Perplexity’s summaries sometimes included mistakes tied to their names, which they say damaged their reputation.
A Global Fight Over AI and News Sources
In addition, the publishers say this behavior reduces traffic to their sites. When users read news on an AI platform, the original source loses page views, and that impacts ad revenue. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, which has also taken action, more than 120,000 of its articles were used without consent.
This case highlights a wider conflict between media firms and AI companies over copyrighted content. Similar lawsuits are underway in the U.S. and Europe against companies like OpenAI, Google (GOOG), and Anthropic. Many publishers say that using their work for free threatens their ability to invest in accurate reporting.
For now, Perplexity has not commented on the lawsuits in Japan. However, the company has previously said media firms should work with AI companies instead of blocking them. The startup has also mentioned possible revenue-sharing plans in the past, though no such agreements have been announced.
Courts in Japan and other markets could set new standards on how generative AI handles news content. Investors may watch the outcome closely since it could influence the costs and models that AI firms use going forward.
Using TipRanks’ Comparison Tool, we reviewed several notable companies developing AI chatbots similar to Perplexity. This comparison gives investors a clearer view of each stock and the overall AI chatbot space.
