CNN sues Perplexity AI for copyright infringement in S.D.N.Y., first TV network action against an AI company

What happened

CNN (Cable News Network) filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, filed Thursday (2026-10-15). It is reportedly CNN's first copyright action against an AI company and is believed to be the first such case brought by a television network.

Allegations

Per CNN's complaint, Perplexity copied "thousands" of its stories, videos and images to power its AI products and distributed "identical or substantially similar" competing content. CNN says the conduct undermines the economics of original journalism by exploiting expensive, resource-intensive reporting, and that a multibillion-dollar company like Perplexity should compensate publishers whose journalism it uses. CNN had attempted to negotiate a licensing deal with Perplexity last year but the parties failed to reach terms. CNN seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order preventing further IP violations.

Response

Perplexity denied the allegations. Spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said: "You can't copyright facts."

Context

The case is the latest legal challenge facing Perplexity, which has also been sued by The New York Times, Dow Jones and Reddit over copyright and scraping allegations. Several other publishers (Gannett, TIME, Le Monde, Der Spiegel) have signed licensing agreements with Perplexity instead of litigating.