• by Ray Schultz , November 5, 2024

Perplexity, which was sent a cease-and-desist order by The New York Times only last month, is offering to help the paper during a strike by its tech workers. 

Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, wants to provide AI services to the Times during the strike, according to a report by TechCrunch. 

The strike was launched on Monday, one day before Election Day. 

Srinivas wrote: “Hey AG Sulzberger @nytimes sorry to see this. Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. DM me anytime here.”

It was not clear at deadline if this was sincere or merely a stunt. 

Tech Guild, whose members run the technology that supports election coverage at the Times, launched an Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) strike at 12:01 ET on Monday. 

The action drew a picket line with more than 400 outside Times headquarters and 200 who participated remotely. They will march from 9.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

“Our union members and bargaining committee have done everything possible to avoid this ULP strike,” says Kathy Zhang, a Senior Analytics Manager at The New York Times and unit chair of the Tech Guild. “But management is more willing to risk our election coverage than they are to agree to a fair deal with its workers.”

The tech workers, who drive mobile push alerts, app & website maintenance and the ‘election needle,’ demand remote/hybrid work security “just cause” job protections, which the newsroom union has had for decades; limits on subcontracting; and pay equity.

As for Perplexity, Dow Jones filed suit against the firm for allegedly pursuing a “massive amount of illegal copying” of content in the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. 

The suit, on file with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, demands that Perplexity halt using news articles from those publications to answer questions, and that the firm destroy any database that uses their copyrighted work.

At deadline, Perplexity had not yet filed a response to the complaint.