The artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has raised tens of millions of dollars from the likes of Jeff Bezos and other prominent tech investors for its mission to rival Google in the business of searching for information.
But its AI-driven search chatbot is already facing challenges as some news media companies object to its business practices. It is also competing against t ech giants Google, and now Apple, which are increasingly fusing similar AI features into their core products.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has spent much of the past week defending the company after it published a summarized news story with information and similar wording to a Forbes investigative story but without citing the media outlet or asking for its permission. Forbes said it later found similar “knock-off” stories lifted from other publications.
The Associated Press separately found another Perplexity product feature inventing fake quotes from real people, including a former elected town official from Martha’s Vineyard falsely quoted to say he didn’t want the Massachusetts island to become a destination for marijuana.
“I never said that,” said Bill Rossi, a former member of the island town of Chilmark’s select board.
Srinivas told The Associated Press that his company is trying to build positive relationships with news publishers that ensure their news content “reaches more people.”
“We can definitely coexist and help each other,” he said.
Asked about Forbes, he said his product “never ripped off content from anybody. Our engine is not training on anyone else’s content,” in part because the company is simply aggregating what other companies’ AI systems generate.
“We are actually more of an aggregator of information and providing it to the people with the right attribution,” Srinivas said. But, he added, “It was accurately pointed out by Forbes that they preferred a more prominent highlighting of the source. We took that feedback immediately and updated changes that day itself. And now the sources are more prominently highlighted.”
Perplexity also revealed this week that it has been seeking revenue-sharing partnerships that would pay news publishers a portion of Perplexity’s advertising revenue each time an outlet’s news content is referenced as a source.
Randall Lane, chief content officer of Forbes Media, called the dispute an “inflection point” in the conversation about AI.
“It’s a case study in where we’re heading,” Lane told the AP. “If the people who are leading the charge don’t have a fundamental respect for the hard work of doing proprietary reporting, and keeping people informed with value-added content, we’ve got a big problem.”
A self-described “AI bull” who believes that the technology could help make many news organizations more efficient, Lane said the dispute between Perplexity and Forbes is important because it is a “metaphor for what can happen if the people controlling the AI don’t respect the people doing the work.”
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AI startup Perplexity wants to upend search business. News outlet Forbes says it’s ripping them off (2024, June 14)
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