Why AI start-up Perplexity and Getty Images have joined hands

Why AI start-up Perplexity and Getty Images have joined hands

AI search start-up Perplexity has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Getty Images. The deal allows Perplexity to use Getty's images in its AI-powered search and discovery tools.

This marks a major shift for the company, which has faced content scraping and plagiarism allegations in the past.

The move is also seen as an effort by Perplexity to create more formal content partnerships.

Perplexity and Getty's year-long collaboration

Perplexity and Getty have been collaborating for over a year, according to sources familiar with the deal. Although it was never announced, Getty was part of Perplexity's Publishers Program. This initiative aimed at sharing ad revenue with publishers when their content appeared in search queries.

Deal may address past plagiarism accusations

The deal with Getty appears to legitimize some of Perplexity's earlier use of Getty's stock photos.

The start-up has faced plagiarism accusations from several news organizations in the past year.

One such case involved content from a Wall Street Journal article, including a Getty photo in that piece.

At the time, many outlets questioned if Perplexity had violated copyright laws by using these images.

Legal battles over content scraping

Recently, Reddit sued Perplexity for "industrial-scale, unlawful" scraping of user content.

The AI start-up also faces multiple copyright lawsuits from major publishers such as Japan's Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun.

However, with the new deal with Getty, Perplexity hopes to improve image display in its search results while giving proper credits and links back to the original source.

Statements from Getty and Perplexity executives

Nick Unsworth, VP of strategic development at Getty, said the agreement "acknowledges the importance of properly attributed consent and its value in enhancing AI-powered products."

Jessica Chan, head of content and publisher partnerships at Perplexity, emphasized attribution and accuracy as fundamental to understanding the world in an age of AI.

She said they are helping people discover answers through powerful visual storytelling while ensuring credit is given where due.