CNN sues Perplexity
This morning, CNN filed suit against Perplexity, accusing the AI company of unlawfully copying and distributing CNN’s content.
The lawsuit joins a long list of legal actions by publishers like The New York Times against generative AI startups. But it is CNN’s first AI copyright action and is thought to be the first such action by any television network.
The lawsuits are part of a larger effort to ensure that news providers are fairly compensated in a world where chatbots and other AI tools are funneling their news to consumers at scale.
If you’ve been following this, you know that major news companies are taking a two-track approach, filing copyright infringement suits in some cases and striking content licensing deals with AI firms in other cases.
With Perplexity, CNN sought to strike a content deal last year, but the two sides could not agree on terms. “As a result, before and after Perplexity’s negotiations with CNN, Perplexity knew that it was not permitted to access CNN’s content or to use its trademarks or service marks,” the lawsuit states.
CNN emphasized in a statement this morning that it “actively embraces the opportunities AI creates” and has “multiple commercial partnerships, active agreements, and ongoing discussions with responsible industry players.” One such deal, with Meta, was publicly reported last December.
Perplexity had no immediate comment on the suit, but earlier this year, in response to a lawsuit by the NYT and Chicago Tribune, the company said that the attempts “to stop this novel technology by monopolizing facts will founder on bedrock principles of intellectual property law that have consistently permitted innovative technologies like Perplexity to exist.” Here’s my full write for CNN.com…
CNN says AI firms ‘can and must pay’ |
”CNN’s lawsuit stands for the proposition that Perplexity, a company valued at tens of billions of dollars, should not be able to steal from entities that create the original content Perplexity exploits,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “The public rely on high quality news journalism reported by human beings to understand their world, which is frequently dangerous and expensive to produce. Commercial operators can and must pay to make use of it.” CNN would prefer “sensible licensing arrangements” with operators, the spokesperson added, “but if they refuse to do that, as Perplexity has so far refused to do, they will have to pay through legal damages. There is no free option.” |
How to keep track of all the media-AI lawsuits |
When I heard about this CNN lawsuit yesterday from a source, I wanted to read up on all the past suits by other publishers. I was tempted to ask a chatbot. Instead, I asked a human, our own Liam Reilly, who knew about this excellent Press Gazette list of “who’s suing AI and who’s signing.” Kudos to Charlotte Tobitt for keeping the list updated! |
‘Illinois lawmakers just passed America’s strongest AI safety bill’ |
That’s the headline from WIRED. CNN AI correspondent Hadas Gold writes: Illinois is now set to be the first state to require independent third-party audits of large frontier AI systems’ safety practices, after Gov. JB Pritzker announced last night he would sign SB 315, which has passed both chambers. The bill goes a step beyond laws passed in states like California and New York, and also includes whistleblower protections for employees of AI companies who report safety issues. Two of the most powerful AI companies, Anthropic and OpenAI, supported the measure… |
AP inks election data pact with OpenAI |
Yesterday, The Associated Press announced what is likely a quite lucrative licensing deal: OpenAI “will license its elections data starting this year through the 2028 U.S. elections, making use of the AP’s vote counts across local, state and national races in major U.S. cities,” Corbin Bolies reports for Variety. >> OpenAI is also “partnering with Democracy Works to display reliable information about voting and registration processes,” Maria Curi writes for Axios. |
>> YouTube is making “a major change to its user interface to make it clear when a video has used artificial intelligence tools in its creation, particularly for photorealistic or ‘meaningfully altered’ content,” THR’s Alex Weprin writes. >> Amazon MGM Studios is promoting the GenAI Creators’ Fund, “which is providing funding and access to AI production tools to filmmakers, digital creators and tech startups for developing premium TV shows and movies.” >> The Economist is launching its own ChatGPT app, “the first of its kind by a major consumer news publication,” NiemanLab’s Andrew Deck reports. For now, “the app is focused solely on U.S. polling data.” >> The New York Post, The Telegraph, The Sun, GB News and Express fell “victim to an AI-generated hoax after publishing reports that Thai police dressed in drag to arrest a drug dealer,” Dom Ponsford reports. |
Terry Moran rolls out ‘Real Patriotism’ platform |
Terry Moran is formalizing his post-ABC career path. Moran, who already has more than 100,000 subscribers to his “Real Patriotism” Substack, is launching RealPatriotism.com, which will entail “a daily video news program, live audience questions, and independent reporting.” The call-in show will be called “On the Line” and will stream on his website and on YouTube. Here’s his video rolling out the new venture. The site is “produced in partnership with Collective Media and powered through beehiiv,” per the press release. Moran will continue with a tiered subscription model, with paying subscribers receiving exclusive content and direct engagement with him… |
🎉 News Emmys winners are… |
”ABC World News Tonight with David Muir took home the award for outstanding live news program, while CNN Worldwide’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper won the award for outstanding recorded news program,” THR’s Carly Thomas wrote. “Overall, ABC received eight awards, Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller via National Geographic/Muck Media won seven Emmys and CNN took home four.” The laurels continue with the Documentary Emmys tonight… |
The elephant in the Emmys room |
Uncertainty about the future of “60 Minutes” was the “elephant in the room” last night, two News Emmy Award attendees told me separately at the end of the night. CBS won two Emmys, both for “60,” and a student scholarship winner called out CBS on stage. Journalists at the awards presentation were abuzz about Sharyn Alfonsi’s decision earlier in the day to go public about CBS letting her contract expire. This was an expected outcome, given the tension between Alfonsi and Bari Weiss last winter; the unexpected part is that Alfonsi is still on the payroll as an at-will employee, since CBS has not actually fired her yet. Why? The best guess is that Weiss is waiting to make all her intended personnel changes to “60” on a single day, likely in June. Alfonsi told the NYT’s Michael Grynbaum that CBS declining to renew her contract (and telling her nothing about her future) “sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom. I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.” CBS management isn’t commenting, but they’d probably say Alfonsi was insubordinate during the “Inside CECOT” episode, and isn’t part of Weiss’s vision for the newsmag’s future. They were also probably relieved that Alfonsi, who was nominated for an Emmy last night, didn’t win in that category. Scott Pelley gave her a shoutout from the stage, however… |
DOJ now probing E. Jean Carroll |
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Paula Reid and Kara Scannell scooped last night that the DOJ has opened a criminal probe into the former magazine columnist. At issue: Whether she “committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president.” Their story also notes that “Carroll is still embroiled in multiple legal battles with the president.” >> “Every American should be appalled at this pattern of Donald Trump utilizing” government power against people “who he perceives to be his adversaries,” Norm Eisen said on “AC360” last night… “This is garbage, and it is alarming because it is a classic sign of authoritarians. Dictators would blush at Donald Trump’s abuse of his criminal powers.” |
>> Trump’s legal team has filed a “revised lawsuit” against the Wall Street Journal, following the directions of a judge who dismissed the earlier complaint. We’ll see if this one has any merit. (WSJ) >> As Jill Biden’s book tour begins, CBS has announced that her first interview will air on “Sunday Morning” this weekend, and The Atlantic has obtained an early copy of the book. (CBS) >> With three days of delayed viewing added to the total, Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” finale audience “grew to 9.123 million total viewers — up 35% from its already-sizable same-day audience of 6.74 million.” (LateNighter) >> Colbert’s replacement, “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen,” averaged 995,000 viewers last Friday, per the overnight #’s. “Versus the previous week’s Late Show repeat in the same slot, the show fell -46% in total viewers and 65% in the demo,” Jed Rosenzweig writes. (LateNighter) |
Spotify and Netflix’s ‘On Purpose’ coup |
The self-help podcaster Jay Shetty “has signed a deal to bring the video version of his show exclusively to Spotify and Netflix, in a major coup for both companies’ efforts to unseat YouTube as the top platform for video podcasts,” Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman reports. >> The deal for Shetty’s “On Purpose” is “worth as much as $100 million over multiple years,” putting Shetty “in a rare stratosphere of hosts that includes Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper…” |
Condé (mostly) resolves ‘Fired Four’ |
The NewsGuild of New York has reached a settlement with Condé Nast over the “Fired Four,” THR’s Katie Kilkenny scooped yesterday. Through the deal, three of the four — Bon Appétit’s Alma Avalle, Condé Nast Entertainment’s Ben Dewey, and The New Yorker’s Jasper Lo — have had their status changed “from fired to being allowed to resign as active employees.” Each member of the trio was given “nearly two years’ pay and furnished with positive letters of recommendation,” per Kilkenny. The fourth member, Wired’s Jake Lahut, “was offered a ‘lesser’ settlement of his own,” and “chose to pursue the case through an unfair labor practice charge case at the National Labor Relations Board…” |
>> Yesterday was a very tough day at NPR: The organization laid off 10 journalists, “including some veteran reporters, in an attempt to save money and reorganize the newsroom,” David Folkenflik reports. At least 18 others have taken buyouts. (NPR) >> “The New York Post laid off several full and part time staff at its streaming-focused site Decider,” per Max Tani. (X) >> “Frank Gonzalez, CBS News’ senior vice president for business affairs, is leaving the network,” per Jeremy Barr. (X) |
Meta wants you to subscribe |
Meta shares jumped on this news yesterday: The company is “doubling down on its subscription offerings,” rolling out “consumer subscription plans globally for its flagship apps, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and beginning tests of new subscriptions for businesses, creators, and Meta AI users,” TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports. Paying subscribers “gain access to extra features, like profile customization, super reactions, and story insights, among other things…” |