
Perplexity AI has launched a revenue-sharing model for publishers to "support the vital work of media organizations and online creators," roping in several media firms which will be paid for the use of their content.
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Media outlets and content platforms such as Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel, and WordPress.com are the first to join the company’s 'Publishers Program.'
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The company had earlier been accused of plagiarism. Forbes said that it found a plagiarised version of its paywalled original reporting within Perplexity AI’s Pages tool and no reference to the media outlet besides a small "F" logo at the bottom of the page.
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Weeks later, Wired also accused Perplexity of the same.
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Perplexity AI, however, maintains it always credited the publishers for their content.
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"From day one, we’ve included citations in each answer, ensuring publishers receive proper credit and building user trust," it said in a blog post.
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Perplexity is an AI startup that specialises in AI-assisted search. It aims to compete with Google and has raised new funding at a valuation exceeding $ 1 billion, which is double from three weeks earlier.
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Under the new partner programme, when a user asks a question and Perplexity generates advertising revenue from citing one of the publisher’s articles in its answer, the company will share a flat percentage of that revenue.
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The percentage is article basis, Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, told CNBC in an interview.
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This means that if three articles from one publisher are used in one answer, the partner would get triple the revenue share.
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Shevelenko did not provide the details of the percentage but it's double-digit. He said more than a dozen publishers, including "major newspaper dailies and companies that own them, had reached out with interest less than two hours after the program debuted."
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The company aims to gain 30 publishers enrolled by the end of the year, Shevelenko added.Â
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"When Perplexity earns revenue from an interaction where a publisher’s content is referenced, that publisher will also earn a share," the company said.
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Shevelenko said that the company started engaging with the publishers in January this year, and solidified ideas for how its revenue-sharing programme would work later in the first quarter of 2024.
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"Some of it grew out of conversations we were having with publishers about integrating Perplexity APIs and technology into their products," Shevelenko said.
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