Encyclopedia Britannica sues Perplexity over AI 'answer engine'

News Corp

11/09/2025 15:46

Refiled with edits to text in para 1. No additional information.

By Blake Brittain

Sept 11 (Reuters) -
    Perplexity AI is the latest artificial intelligence company to be hit with a lawsuit by copyright holders alleging infringement after Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster accused it of misusing their content in its "answer engine" for internet searches.

The reference companies alleged in New York federal court on Wednesday that Perplexity unlawfully copied their material and diminished their revenue by redirecting their web traffic to its AI-generated summaries.

Spokespeople for Perplexity, and attorneys and spokespeople for Britannica, which owns Merriam-Webster, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. The lawsuit is one of several high-stakes cases brought by authors, news outlets and other content owners against tech companies for using their material without permission in AI systems.

Perplexity's "answer engine" searches the internet for users and summarizes what it finds, providing an AI-based alternative to traditional search engines like Google. The lawsuit said Perplexity's system "free rides" on Britannica and Merriam-Webster's work by summarizing their articles and diverting traffic that would otherwise go to their websites.

Perplexity is facing a similar lawsuit from News Corp's NWSA.O Dow Jones and the New York Post for allegedly misusing their articles in its search engine.

Britannica and Merriam-Webster's complaint said Perplexity infringed their copyrights by scraping their websites, copying their articles and reproducing their content without permission. They also accused the startup of violating their trademark rights by attributing AI-hallucinated material to them.

Britannica and Merriam-Webster requested an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Perplexity from misusing their content.

The case is Encyclopedia Britannica Inc v. Perplexity AI Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:25-cv-07546.

For Britannica: Ian Crosby, Davida Brook and Gloria Park of Susman Godfrey

For Perplexity: attorney information not yet available

Read more:

Murdoch's Dow Jones, New York Post sue Perplexity AI for 'illegal' copying of content

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)