Perplexity acts as a real-time, AI-powered search engine that provides users with information from websites, complete with citations. The lawsuits filed by the Chicago Tribune and New York Times accuse Perplexity of retrieving information in real time from their paywalled sites without licensing. Such retrieval is known as RAG, or retrieval augmented generation. Other companies, such as Meta, have struck licensing deals for comparable use (but with other organizations), and Perplexity itself has struck RAG licensing deals with Gannett and Getty Images. Learn more. The Dow Jones and New York Post have also sued Perplexity, so Perplexity’s lawyers must be busy.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
