Perplexity AI shares search revenue with publishers
San Francisco, USA, August 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Confusing AI on Monday said it will start paying millions of dollars to media as part of a new model to share search revenue with publishers.
According to the San Francisco-based startup, its media partners get paid as soon as Perplexity's browser or AI assistant uses it to fulfill a query or request.
“We are compensating for publishers of models that are suitable for the AI era,” the Perplexity team said in a blog post.
Payouts will be managed through subscription services that will be rolled out in the coming months. This is called Comet Plus, which is described as a program that ensures publishers and journalists benefit from new business models enabled by AI.
According to Perplexity, a $42.5 million money pool has been set aside to share with publishers and is expected to grow over time.
“As the web has evolved beyond information to include knowledge, behavior and opportunities, great content from publishers and journalists is even more important,” the Perplexity team said.
The company charges a monthly $5 subscription to Comet Plus. This is an additional perk for those who already pay for the premium version of Prplexity.
Perplexity is one of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley, with AI-powered search engines often mentioned as a potential disruptor for Google.
However, the company has been targeted in lawsuits by media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, claiming startups are unfairly profiting from their work.
One lawsuit baffles the illegal copying and reproducing copyrighted content from the Wall Street Journal and The New York Post to bolster the AI-driven “Answer Engine.”
The unsettling revenue sharing model is a peace offering to publishers, strengthening defense against accusations of riding their freedom to their work.
Unlike ChatGpt and Anthropic's Claude, Perplexity's tools provide up-to-date answers with well-links to source materials, allowing users to view the information.
Also, unlike classic search engines, Perplexity provides off-the-shelf answers on web pages, without the need for users to click on the source website.
Meanwhile, Google has built powerful AI in search engines and provides AI-generated summary with query results.
After the October lawsuit by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, Confusion criticized many media outlets' “hospitable, unnecessary and self-defeating.”
They said, “I prefer to live in a world where publicly reported facts are owned by businesses, and no one can do anything with publicly reported facts without any sacrifice.”
“We should all work together to provide people with incredible new tools and build a business that truly expands the pie.”
