Perplexity, an AI chatbot, is set to launch a first-of-its-kind revenue-sharing program with web publishers next month, enabling them to monetize their content when cited by the platform.
Key Takeaways: The revenue-sharing initiative will be based on advertising run alongside search queries on Perplexity, with partners receiving a percentage of revenue for ads displayed against results that cite their content:
- The program will include both the paid Perplexity Pro offering and the free version of the platform.
- Partners will be entitled to a share of the revenue whenever an ad is run against a result that cites a link from their website.
- The program will launch with “top-tier publishers” but will also be open to individuals with WordPress sites or newsletters.
Perplexity’s Growth and Controversies: Despite raising $63 million in April and reaching unicorn status, Perplexity has recently faced criticism and legal challenges:
- Forbes sued the company for alleged copyright infringement.
- Perplexity has been called out for ignoring opt-outs in Wired magazine’s robot.txt file.
- The platform, along with ChatGPT, has been reported to “hallucinate” links to news stories and information.
Company’s Response: Perplexity’s CBO, Dmitry Shevelenko, addressed the criticisms during VB Transform:
- He dismissed the infringement reports as “inaccurate” and emphasized that Perplexity has been including source links in its answers from the beginning.
- Shevelenko argued that AI doesn’t fundamentally change the dynamics of aggregation, sourcing, and citing, which have been issues since the early days of publishing.
- He highlighted that Perplexity doesn’t train its own foundation model or scrape the internet to train the reasoning of its model.
Looking Ahead: As Perplexity moves forward with its revenue-sharing program, questions remain about how the company will navigate the complexities of content attribution and monetization in the era of AI-powered search and aggregation. The success of this initiative may hinge on Perplexity’s ability to strike a balance between leveraging web content and respecting publishers’ rights and preferences.
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