BBC warns legal action against AI startup Perplexity over content scraping

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has accused AI search engine startup Perplexity of unlawfully using its content to train artificial intelligence models and is threatening legal action, according to a report by the Financial Times on Friday.

In a legal letter sent to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the BBC demanded that the company stop scarping its material, erase any data already used to train its "default AI model," and submit a proposal for financial compensation to address what it described as a violation of its intellectual property rights. The broadcaster confirmed the report in a statement to Reuters.

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The BBC claims that Perplexity reproduced portions of its content verbatim and that links to BBC articles appeared in the startup's search results, the report added.

Perplexity, which has been previously accused of plagiarising content by Forbes and Wired, launched a revenue-sharing program to ease publisher concerns.

However, disputes continue to mount. Last October, The New York Times issued a "cease and desist" notice to Perplexity for using its content without authorization.

In a rebuttal to the BBC's claims, Perplexity told in a media statement that the broadcaster's allegations were "manipulative and opportunistic," and accused the BBC of misunderstanding "technology, the internet and intellectual property law."

Backed by high-profile investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, AI chipmaker Nvidia, and Japan's SoftBank Group, Perplexity is emerging as a major player in the AI search space.

The startup is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $500 million in funding, which could value the company at $14 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Also Read: Perplexity AI crosses $100 million in annual revenue