The BBC has issued a legal warning to US-based artificial intelligence company Perplexity, accusing it of reproducing BBC content without permission and demanding that the company stop using its material, delete existing data, and propose financial compensation.
This marks the first time the BBC has threatened legal action against an AI company, as concerns escalate across the media industry over how generative AI tools use protected journalism.
In a letter sent directly to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the broadcaster alleged that the firm’s AI-powered chatbot was presenting verbatim BBC content to users in breach of UK copyright law and the BBC’s terms of use. The corporation claims the activity is damaging its reputation, especially among UK licence fee payers, by producing inaccurate or misleading summaries of news stories.
“It is highly damaging to the BBC, injuring the BBC’s reputation with audiences… and undermining their trust in the BBC,” the letter states.
The legal move follows BBC research earlier this year which found that several major AI tools — including Perplexity’s — frequently misrepresented news stories, falling short of BBC editorial standards around impartiality and accuracy.
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