BBC threatens legal action against AI firm Perplexity

The BBC has written to US-based Perplexity calling for it to immediately stop using BBC content and to delete any it holds. It also asks for financial compensation for the material it has already used.

It is the first time that the BBC has taken such action against an AI company.

The letter to Perplexity's boss Aravind Srinivas was first reported by the Financial Times.

In a statement to the BBC, Perplexity said: "The BBC's claims are just one more part of the overwhelming evidence that the BBC will do anything to preserve Google's illegal monopoly."

The BBC’s move comes soon after Disney and Universal announced they are suing artificial intelligence (AI) firm Midjourney over its image generator.

The two studios argue that Midjourney's image generator makes "innumerable" copies of characters including Darth Vader from Star Wars, Frozen's Elsa, and the Minions from Despicable Me.

The creative industries are increasingly concerned about AI companies training data on copyrighted material.

The Disney and Universal suit marks the first major legal showdown between Hollywood studios and an artificial intelligence company.