CNN has sued Perplexity, accusing the AI company of unlawfully using the news network’s copyrighted content without permission.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, claims that Perplexity copied over 17,000 of CNN’s stories, videos, images, and other published works to support its products and tools.
“[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,” said a CNN spokesperson in a statement. “The public relies 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.”
What does the lawsuit say?
Filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the lawsuit is CNN’s first legal case against an AI company.
The suit outlined how in addition to copyright infringement, Perplexity also allegedly violated CNN’s trademarks by falsely claiming an affiliation between the brand and CNN.
In October 2025, CNN and Perplexity negotiated a partnership allowing the AI company to access CNN paywalled content for its Comet Plus users in exchange for compensation to CNN.
However, the deal fell through in November 2025 due to CNN’s and Perplexity’s inability to agree on multiple issues, according to the legal complaint. Over the course of negotiations and after, CNN blocked Perplexity’s AI bot from accessing its content.
“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.
In December 2025, CNN wrote to Perplexity’s then-head of legal and operations, demanding a stop to all unauthorized use of CNN’s name and content. Perplexity allegedly never responded to CNN’s letter and continued to use CNN’s content.
In a statement to Fast Company, Perplexity’s chief communications officer, Jesse Dwyer, said, “You can’t copyright facts.”
This is not the first instance of legal trouble for Perplexity. The New York Times, News Corp., Chicago Tribune, and Britannica are among the media outlets that have sued the AI startup in recent years.
CNN is seeking damages and restitution of profits.
