Perplexity, has introduced a new subscription program called Comet Plus, which aims to provide users with access to premium content while offering a new compensation model for publishers. The company announced the program on Monday, August 25, stating it is a direct response to the ongoing debate over how media outlets should be compensated in the age of AI.
“Comet Plus transforms how publishers are compensated in the AI age,” Perplexity said in a blog post. “As users demand a better internet in the age of AI, it’s time for a business model to ensure that publishers and journalists benefit from their contributions to a better internet.”
The new subscription is available as a standalone option for $5 per month, or it can be accessed through the company’s existing Pro and Max memberships. The program is linked to Perplexity’s Comet AI-powered browser, which was launched in July and is designed to allow users to answer questions and conduct research from a single interface.
A Bloomberg report from Monday detailed the financial structure of the new initiative. Perplexity has allocated $42.5 million for a revenue sharing program that will compensate publishers when their content is used by the Comet browser or AI assistant. According to an interview with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the program will distribute 80% of the revenue generated by Comet Plus to publishers, with Perplexity retaining the remaining 20%.
“AI is helping to create a better internet, but publishers still need to get paid,” Srinivas told Bloomberg. “So we think this is actually the right solution, and we’re happy to make adjustments along the way.”
The launch of Comet Plus comes amidst a series of legal actions by media outlets against AI companies, with many accusing these tech firms of copyright infringement. While some AI companies have formed partnerships with publishers for training data and search business, legal disputes have been a key part of the conversation.
In October, two News Corp.-owned publishers, Dow Jones and the New York Post, filed a lawsuit against Perplexity. They alleged that the company had not responded to their concerns about its use of their copyrighted material. At the time, Srinivas expressed a desire to form revenue-sharing partnerships and noted that Perplexity could also supply publishers with chatbots that use their content to respond to user queries on their own websites.
“I don’t think just licensing content is the only solution,” Srinivas said in October. “Neither am I saying our publisher program is already there. I hope that more conversations will get us there.”
In a separate instance, it was reported in June that the BBC threatened legal action against the AI startup. The BBC alleged that Perplexity’s “default AI model” was trained using its material and demanded that the company stop scraping its content, delete any copies used for AI development, and propose financial compensation for the alleged copyright infringement.
Perplexity Launches New Subscription Model with Revenue Sharing for Publishers
