Tools based on and benefiting from the benefits of AI are, of course, a very tasty morsel for any more ambitious investor. This is especially important now, at a time when the full capabilities of this technology have not yet been fully explored and discovered. It may also make us feel somewhat confused about the future and real possibilities.
One of the possibilities of using AI is to provide better and more transparent access to information. This can be achieved with new language models or programs. What if we created a search engine using artificial intelligence?
The creators of Perplexity came up with this idea. It was supposed to be fresh, it was supposed to be revolutionary, but it turned out… Exactly. It turns out that the assumptions have nothing to do with reality, and in fact it is worse than many expected.
Perplexity as an alternative to search engines
Perplexity is a conversational content search engine that relies on AI, or more precisely, large language models (LLM). It uses user queries and their context to deliver personalized search results. Additionally, all this is to be summarized and additionally supplemented by sources.
In its subsequent versions, the search engine offered several additional functionalities. An example of this would be Pages, or a customizable website based on user commands and guidelines.
The whole thing looked quite ambitious and, above all, could herald a “new quality”. After all, such an offer of opportunities is indeed tempting and on paper it sounds like something many of us would be happy to take advantage of. Unfortunately, this project encountered many problems along the way.
Problemy Perplexity
The latest news confirms that News Corp., the parent company of websites such as The Wall Street Journal i New York Post, sued AI search engine Perplexity. The reason for going to court is copyright infringement, or more precisely, “copying of entire articles and analyses”, all of which is to be done on a large scale. However, this is not the only accusation directed against this search engine.
News Corp. also indicates that Perplexity’s actions allow users to bypass links to online articles. All this is intended to draw customers away from the platforms and, of course, generate losses. As if that wasn’t enough, one more accusation was added to all the allegations, which seems to be the most blatant.
News Corp. also maintains that Perplexity may attribute facts and analyzes to media data completely falsely and without basis. The search engine may provide false information and indicate that its source is recognized and respected media. Sometimes, as the company claims, these are made up stories and pure lies that absolutely did not happen.
The case is interesting because News Corp. already in July 2024, he sent letters to the creators of Perplexity in which he alerted about certain problems. At that time, no one reacted to it, and this prompted the corporation to take legal action.
As part of the lawsuit, News Corp. demands that the creators of Perplexity stop using their content and destroy all databases based on the portals of this particular media group. A company spokesperson explicitly states that the search engine “shamelessly presents recycled materials as a direct replacement for the original source.”
Dark clouds and an unclear future
Theoretically, Perplexity loudly announced that it wanted to cooperate with journalists and share profits, but as you can see, this is not enough for everyone. What is mainly questionable and very controversial is the issue of copyright and the creators’ approach to this topic. Therefore, it should not be surprising that some companies react very allergic to such activities.
In the face of this, the future of Perplexity itself seems very unclear. The head of the start-up responsible for the search engine seems surprised by this turn of events, but there’s no point in pretending – it’s more like putting on a good face to play a bad game.
The question remains whether further lawsuits and court battles will cause more problems for the search engine. After all, subsequent controversies and scandals may discourage investors from cooperation, and no start-up is likely to survive this for long.
