Reddit sued, Getty signed; Perplexity is having a week

AI search startup Perplexity has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Getty Images, giving it permission to display Getty photos across its AI search tools.

The move signals a shift toward more formal partnerships after the company faced accusations of scraping and plagiarism.

Perplexity and Getty had already been working together quietly for more than a year through Perplexity’s Publishers’ Program, which shares ad revenue when publisher content appears in search.

This new agreement is separate and not a traditional lump-sum licence, as Perplexity does not train its own large models. No financial details were shared.

The deal also helps clarify Perplexity’s past use of Getty images.

Over the past year, the company faced plagiarism claims, including a case where it surfaced a Wall Street Journal article and the Getty photo used in it.

Several outlets questioned whether this amounted to copyright infringement.

In October, Reddit sued Perplexity, claiming the startup scraped user content at scale and bypassed technical protections.

Reddit already licenses data to OpenAI.

Perplexity says the Getty partnership will support clearer image display and proper credit, including links to the original source.

Getty’s Nick Unsworth said the deal highlights the importance of consent and attribution.

Perplexity’s Jessica Chan said the goal is to help people find answers through visual context while making it clear where content comes from.

The focus on attribution also aligns with Perplexity’s legal stance. The company argues its use of publisher content, including paywalled material, is “fair use,” as factual information cannot be copyrighted.

Perplexity out here like “sorry mom, I’ll do it properly this time.” - MG