Perplexity, an AI startup, has come under fire for allegedly plagiarizing articles from news outlets like CNBC and Forbes. According to a report by Forbes, Perplexity operates a chatbot that curates articles from third-party news outlets without giving proper credit or attribution. The curated articles closely match the wording of the original sources but include small logos that link back to the original stories. In one instance, Perplexity’s chatbot copied a paywalled Forbes report on ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s military drone project, even using an in-house graphic from the original story.
Forbes identified two other cases where Perplexity scraped news articles without proper credit, including a CNBC report on Elon Musk’s decision to shift shipments of computer chips to his startup and a Bloomberg story on Apple’s plans for home robotics products. Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas acknowledged the issue but argued that their chatbot cites third-party outlets more prominently than rival services like Google Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot.
However, Forbes executive editor John Paczkowski called out Perplexity’s actions as plagiarism, noting that there is no clear attribution in their curated articles. He criticized the use of tiny logos that treat their work the same as reblogs. Paczkowski’s response highlights the concern among journalism outlets about AI firms using their content without proper credit or compensation, which could potentially erode their audiences.
The issue of AI ripoffs and plagiarism has been a growing concern in the journalism industry. Last year, the News Media Alliance warned that chatbots were creating a “plagiarism stew” by lifting text without proper attribution, potentially violating copyright laws. There have been calls for federal intervention to protect news publishers from the negative impact of AI ripoffs.
In a statement responding to Forbes’ reporting, a spokesperson for Perplexity AI said they have updated how they present sources on their pages to address the issue. Now, when a user opens a page, all the sources will be presented at the top and in footnotes for each section. The spokesperson emphasized that Perplexity has always cared about giving attribution to content and designed their core product to clearly cite its source materials.
This incident involving Perplexity is not an isolated case. Google also faced criticism for adding auto-generated text summaries called “AI Overviews” to search results, potentially demoting links to other outlets. Users discovered that some of the AI-generated responses were lifted directly from old Reddit posts, raising concerns about the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated content.
The growing use of AI in content creation and curation raises important questions about intellectual property, plagiarism, and the role of technology in journalism. It highlights the need for clear guidelines and regulations to ensure proper attribution and compensation for content creators. Without intervention, the rise of AI ripoffs could have a devastating impact on news publishers and their ability to maintain their audiences.
