Perplexity AI has announced a $42.5 million revenue-sharing initiative aimed at compensating publishers whose content is used to answer user queries. The move comes as the company faces mounting legal pressure from major media houses, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun.
The new model is tied to Comet Plus, a $5-per-month add-on for existing premium users. Through this subscription, Perplexity aims to ensure that publishers and journalists benefit directly from its AI-driven platform. The company calls it “a model that’s right for the AI age.”
Perplexity has positioned itself as a direct competitor to Google, offering an “answer engine” that delivers results on-page, without requiring users to click through to the original source. While the platform includes source links, lawsuits argue it still undermines fair compensation by reducing traffic to original sites.
This revenue-sharing plan may be an effort to ease tensions, as legal challenges accuse the company of profiting from copyrighted journalism. Critics say Perplexity is exploiting media content without appropriate licensing or payment.
In response to earlier legal action, Perplexity criticized what it described as the “adversarial posture” of media organizations, arguing that factual reporting should not be locked behind corporate ownership.
With Comet positioned as a potential AI operating system for knowledge workers, this new initiative may serve to both legitimize Perplexity’s approach and foster cooperation with content creators in the evolving AI landscape.
