Perplexity AI Introduces Revenue-Sharing Program for Publishers

Perplexity AI has announced a new initiative to share revenue with publishers, allocating $42.5 million to compensate them for content used in its AI search engine. This move comes as the company faces criticism and legal challenges from media outlets over the use of their work. According to Bloomberg, the program will allow publishers to earn money when their content receives traffic through Perplexity's Comet browser, appears in search queries, or is used by Comet's AI assistant.

The funds for this program will come from Comet Plus, a new subscription tier for the Comet browser, priced at $5 per month. Publishers will receive 80% of the revenue generated, while Perplexity retains the remaining 20%. This approach is similar to Apple's Apple News+ and aims to establish a new standard for compensating publishers, moving away from the traditional model reliant on web traffic and clicks.

Perplexity's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, stated that the initiative is part of the company's effort to create a better internet while ensuring publishers are fairly compensated. Despite ongoing legal disputes, including a recent lawsuit from News Corp., Perplexity remains confident in its legal standing and is in discussions with previous media partners to join the program.