Perplexity AI to Revenue-Share with Publishers from AI Searches

Perplexity AI, an AI startup, is offering publishers a revenue-sharing deal for the articles generated by their AI searches. This move comes amidst criticism and legal issues from some media houses over the use of their content. The deal aims to address concerns and establish a mutually beneficial partnership.

Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, has announced a revenue-sharing program for publishers, aiming to address criticism and legal issues stemming from the use of their content. The company, backed by Nvidia, has allocated $42.5 million to be distributed among participating publishers [1].

Under the new program, publishers will earn money when their content appears in search queries, receives web traffic, or is used to fulfill tasks by Perplexity’s AI assistant. Publishers will receive 80% of the revenue, while Perplexity will keep the remaining 20% [1]. The revenue will come from Comet Plus, a new subscription service for the Comet browser, which costs $5 a month for customers [1].

This initiative marks a significant step in the AI industry, as it is one of the first startups to introduce a revenue-sharing model based on publishers’ content. While OpenAI and Google (GOOG) have made multimillion-dollar deals with major publishers to license and distribute content, Perplexity’s approach is unique in its direct revenue-sharing mechanism [1].

Perplexity Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas stated that while AI is creating a better internet, publishers need to be compensated for their content. The company is currently in talks with previous media partners and has not yet disclosed which publishers are participating in the program [1].

This move comes amidst reports that Perplexity made a $34.5 billion bid to take over Google's (GOOG) dominant Chrome Web browser, a key piece of the search giant under antitrust court proceedings [2]. The acquisition attempt underscores Perplexity’s ambition to challenge the established search engine giants.

References:
[1] https://seekingalpha.com/news/4488740-perplexity-ai-to-share-revenue-with-publishers-from-ai-searches-report
[2] https://seekingalpha.com/news/4488740-perplexity-ai-to-share-revenue-with-publishers-from-ai-searches-report