NYT and Chicago Tribune Sue Perplexity AI Over Copyrighted News Used in RAG
The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have filed federal lawsuits alleging Perplexity AI copied and redistributed paid, archived and paywalled journalism to power its Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) search responses. Plaintiffs say Perplexity scraped publisher archives and reproduced verbatim or near‑verbatim reporting, causing traffic diversion, attribution errors and lost subscription and ad revenue. The suits seek injunctions to stop use of the content, destruction of stored copyrighted material and monetary damages. Perplexity denies wrongdoing and frames the complaints as a recurring industry response to disruptive technologies. These cases are part of a broader wave of more than 40 copyright lawsuits worldwide targeting AI firms (including actions involving OpenAI, Anthropic and others). The litigation could force clearer licensing requirements for AI training data and reshape how generative search and RAG systems handle news — an outcome that may push AI companies toward licensed data deals like those Meta is pursuing. For crypto traders, the dispute highlights regulatory and legal risk around AI services that ingest news feeds and web content; platforms integrating tokenized news access, on‑chain content licensing, or projects building AI+crypto products should be monitored for increased compliance costs, potential content-delivery changes and partnership opportunities with licensed publishers.
Neutral
The lawsuits target Perplexity and the broader practice of using unlicensed news content in RAG systems. For cryptocurrencies specifically, there is no direct token or protocol named in the filings, so immediate price pressure on any single crypto asset is unlikely. Short-term market impact is neutral: traders may see increased volatility in crypto equities or AI‑native tokens if investors reassess regulatory and legal exposure for AI projects tied to news distribution. Long-term, the rulings could raise compliance costs and create a shift toward licensed data models or on‑chain licensing solutions; projects that provide auditable content licensing or help AI firms source licensed feeds could benefit, while those relying on unvetted web scraping may face operational risk. Overall, the story signals legal and operational risk for AI+crypto integrations but not a direct bullish or bearish catalyst for a specific cryptocurrency.