Reddit Sues Perplexity for Scraping User Data to Train its AI

Ever since artificial intelligence became the tech industry’s favorite obsession, tech giants have been facing multiple lawsuits, ranging from news publishers to creative professionals. Everyone wants to know how their content is being used.

Now, Reddit has entered the courtroom again, this time suing Perplexity AI for allegedly scraping user-generated data to train its search engine without permission.

The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, claims that Perplexity, along with three data firms, Oxylabs (Lithuania), AWMProxy (Russia), and SerpApi (Texas), bypassed Reddit’s protections to harvest data that fuels its so-called “answer engine.”

Reddit alleges that Perplexity “desperately needs” human-written content to enhance the accuracy of its AI models. That’s why it is scraping Reddit’s massive library of discussions to give it that edge. Reddit is now seeking monetary damages and a court order to block further use of its data

The company says this isn’t just one case. In June, Reddit sued another AI startup, Anthropic, over similar claims. Reddit’s Chief Legal Officer, Ben Lee, described the issue as part of a “data laundering economy,” saying that AI firms are “locked in an arms race for quality human content.”

Perplexity, however, denies any wrongdoing. “Our approach remains principled and responsible as we provide factual answers with accurate AI, and we will not tolerate threats against openness and the public interest,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would defend itself in court.

Rishaj Upadhyay

News Editor

Rishaj is a tech writer who has been writing professionally for over four years, with a passion for Android, Windows, and all things tech. He initially joined Windows Report as a tech journalist and is now taking over as a news editor. When he’s not breaking the keyboard, you can find him cooking, or listening to music/podcasts.