Condé Nast, the media conglomerate that owns publications reminiscent of The New Yorker, Vogue and Wired, has despatched a cease-and-desist letter to AI-powered search startup Perplexity, in accordance with The Data. The letter, which was despatched on Monday, calls for that Perplexity cease utilizing content material from Condé Nast publications in its AI-generated responses and accused the startup of plagiarism.
The transfer makes Condé Nast the newest in a rising listing of publishers taking a stand towards the unauthorized use of their content material by AI corporations, and comes a month after related motion taken by Forbes. Perplexity and Condé Nast didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Engadget.
Perplexity, a San Francisco-based startup, is valued at $3 billion and backed by high-profile traders together with the Jeff Bezos household fund and NVIDIA, has lately come beneath scrutiny for not respecting copyright and ripping off content material to feed its AI-generated responses. The controversy surrounding the corporate extends past copyright issues.
A latest investigation from Wired reveled that the startup’s net crawlers don’t respect robots.txt, a kind of file that web site house owners can use to dam bots from scraping their content material. Final month, Amazon Internet Companies reportedly launched an investigation to find out whether or not the startup broke its guidelines round net scraping. Shortly after, a report from Reuters confirmed that Perplexity was simply one of many many AI corporations ignoring robots.txt.
This follow has sparked issues concerning the moral and authorized implications of AI growth and its impression on content material creators and publishers. In response, Perplexity executives have talked about beginning a revenue-sharing program with publishers, though it’s nonetheless unclear what its phrases might be.
Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch has warned that “many” media corporations may face monetary spoil by the point it will take for litigation towards generative AI corporations to conclude. Lynch has known as upon Congress to take “quick motion” by asking AI corporations to compensate publishers for using their content material and placing licensing offers sooner or later. Earlier this month, three senators launched the COPIED Act, a invoice that goals to guard journalists, artists and songwriters from AI corporations utilizing their content material to coach AI fashions.
