• by Ray Schultz , 7 hours ago

The Chicago Tribune Company has joined the parade of publishers suing the search engine Perplexity AI, Inc. for copyright infringement. 

Tribune Publishing and MediaNews Group filed suit on Thursday, alleging that Perplexity is unlawfully using the Chicago Tribune's content to build its AI-driven search engine.

The complaint charges that Perplexity promotes itself as “an intelligent research assistant, streamlining your information gathering by delivering the precise knowledge you need without the extra steps and clicks.” 

To bypass the “extra steps and clicks,” the paper adds, “Perplexity accesses as much content as it can from the Chicago Tribune and other sources of trusted, original, and reliable information.”

In August 2024, Perplexity boasted that its answer engine allowed users to “Skip the links” by providing “a single, comprehensive answer that summarizes everything you need to know,” the Tribune alleges.  

In addition, Perplexity “obtained Chicago Tribune’s content by scraping content directly from the Chicago Tribune’s website, or via third parties, to use as RAG Content,” it adds.  

The complaint adds, “If the Chicago Tribune and its peers cannot control the use of their content, their ability to monetize that content will be harmed. With less revenue, news organizations will have fewer journalists able to dedicate time and resources to important, in-depth stories, which creates a risk that those stories will go untold. 

The Chicago Tribune is part of “a coalition of 17 news publications owned or operated by MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing that have sued OpenAI and Microsoft.

Chicago Tribune and seven other plaintiff newspapers first filed suit in April 2024. A second lawsuit on behalf of nine more MNG and Tribune publications was filed in November 2025.”

Perplexity is also being sued by Dow Jones and Reddit, and by overseas publications. 

“The Perplexity business model is based on the theft of journalism created by real live journalists at the Chicago Tribune and other publications,” says Mitch Pugh, Executive Editor of the Chicago Tribune, in a statement.

“Journalists who work each day to serve the public interest, seeking justice and holding power accountable often at great personal and institutional risk. Any accurate information that Perplexity provides to users is based entirely on this work. It is stealing, plain and simple." 

The case is on file with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.