Chicago Tribune Initiates Legal Action Against Perplexity for Copyright Infringement
On Thursday, the Chicago Tribune commenced litigation against the artificial intelligence search engine Perplexity, alleging rampant copyright violation. The lawsuit, which has garnered the attention of TechCrunch, was lodged in a federal court located in New York.
The complaint delineates that Tribune’s legal representatives inquired whether Perplexity utilizes any of its newspaper’s materials. In reply, Perplexity claimed that its model is not trained on content from the Tribune; however, the complaint asserts that it may still derive non-verbatim, factual summaries.
“may obtain non-verbatim, factual summaries.”– The Chicago Tribune’s suit
Moreover, the lawsuit contends that Perplexity reproduces the newspaper’s content verbatim through its Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems. According to the plaintiff, this mechanism is employed to mitigate inaccuracies by mandating reliance solely on precise or validated sources. However, the Tribune claims that Perplexity has illicitly utilized its materials within these RAG frameworks.
“RAG is a method used to curb hallucinations by ensuring the model uses only accurate or verified data sources.”– The Chicago Tribune’s suit
Reports indicate that Perplexity’s Comet browser circumvents the Tribune’s paywall, thereby providing detailed summaries of its articles without due recompense.
The Tribune is affiliated with MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, entities that previously initiated legal proceedings in April against OpenAI and Microsoft regarding unauthorized use of their materials for model training. This case remains in progress.
In addition, nine other publishers lodged similar lawsuits in November against the AI model’s developer and its cloud service provider.
As an increasing number of creators pursue legal avenues over unauthorized utilizations of their works for model training, courts will soon need to adjudicate whether RAG frameworks should also bear responsibility for such infringements.
Thus far, Perplexity has refrained from issuing a response to the Chicago Tribune concerning the lawsuit, nor has it engaged with TechCrunch regarding requests for comment. The forthcoming litigation is compounded by other lawsuits facing Perplexity.
Reddit initiated its own legal action in October; Dow Jones is also preparing to file a suit. Additionally, although Amazon opted not to proceed with litigation last month, it did signal intentions to potentially terminate certain initiatives involving an AI browser for its shopping platform.
Critical Aspects of the Lawsuit and Responses from Involved Parties
The Tribune’s legal action emphasizes the infringement of rights associated with newspaper content and the unauthorized use of materials for model training. In response, Perplexity has remained silent on queries from both the Chicago Tribune and TechCrunch.
The company is now entangled in multiple lawsuits brought forth by media organizations, raising substantive questions about the legal liabilities associated with model training.
As mentioned, Reddit’s lawsuit emerged in October, while Dow Jones is also slated to file. Although Amazon abstained from formal litigation recently, the company has expressed intentions to reevaluate its operational strategies concerning AI browsers in the retail sector.
These ongoing legal proceedings paint a complex picture of the evolving relationship between intellectual property rights and artificial intelligence, with critical decisions regarding liability and the role of RAG mechanisms looming on the horizon.
Source link: Mezha.net.
