GoKawiilis a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
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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.
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.”