Japanese newspaper sues US company for illegally using AI to 'shuffle cards', demands nearly $15 million in compensation

According to the Straits Times on August 10, three newspapers including The Yomiuri Shimbun ; The Yomiuri Shimbun, Osaka ; and The Yomiuri Shimbun, Seibu have filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI, accusing the company of using a large number of Yomiuri Shimbun's articles and images for a search engine using artificial intelligence (AI) without permission.

All three newspapers are part of Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun Group. The case marks the first time a major Japanese media company has filed a lawsuit of this type.

Previously, in Europe and the US, a number of AI-related businesses have gotten into legal trouble for illegally using copyrighted materials for generative AI.

In a lawsuit filed in a Tokyo court, Yomiuri Shimbun accused Perplexity of copying articles from its digital service Yomiuri Shimbun Online (YOL) and sending replies containing similar content to users, in violation of copyright and the right of public communication under Japanese law.

Perplexity is accused of taking 119,467 Yomiuri articles from February to June 2025 to create answers for users, demanding compensation of 16,500 yen (nearly $112) per article, based on the usual licensing fee. The total compensation claim is nearly $15 million and could rise further if the Yomiuri Shimbun discovers additional violations.

In addition, Yomiuri Shimbun also said that Perplexity AI's service had caused traffic to its newspaper pages to decrease, leading to a drop in advertising revenue, infringing on business interests.

About 2,500 Yomiuri Shimbun reporters were involved in producing the stories, so Perplexity AI's use of information and images without permission is "freeloading" on the great effort and expense the newspaper has spent.

Perplexity AI was founded in 2022, specializing in providing the latest online information processing search service to synthesize answers to users' questions.

Unlike traditional search engines that simply display lists of websites, Perplexity promotes itself as an "answer engine," summarizing information gathered from the web, helping users get information without having to visit each page themselves.

In a comment, Perplexity AI said this was a "misunderstanding" and was trying to understand the nature of the allegations, emphasizing that the company is committed to ensuring that publishers and news producers benefit in the AI era.