Perplexity Keeps Dodging the Obvious: License the News

“AI is helping to create a better internet, but publishers still need to get paid,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said as the company rolled out a new $42.5 million pool to pay publishers when their content shows up in its AI-powered search results. The problem is not whether publishers should get paid. The problem is how. And here, Perplexity is avoiding the only sustainable solution, that is, straightforward licensing of content. This is a model its rivals are already embracing. Instead, the $18 billion startup is experimenting with a subscription service called Comet Plus, where users pay $5 a month and publishers receive 80% of the revenue. Payouts occur when Comet’s AI browser cites an article, when its assistant reads a page on a user’s behalf, or when a user actually