Amazon has reviewed allegations that artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has been scraping content from prominent news sites without permission.
The investigation was prompted by an article published by WIRED earlier this month, which accused Perplexity of scraping content from websites that had explicitly prohibited such practices.
Perplexity, which uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, has denied the allegations, stating that its services are not crawling websites in violation of AWS terms of service.
However, the company has faced criticism in recent weeks over accusations of plagiarism and inventing fake quotes from real people.
Amazon spokesperson Samantha Mayowa, confirmed the investigation, stating that the company takes allegations of abuse seriously and engages with its customers to understand the reports.
Mayowa emphasised that Amazon’s terms of service prohibit abusive and illegal activities, and customers are responsible for complying with those terms.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has defended the company, stating that it does not train its engine on others’ content and only aggregates what other companies’ AI systems generate.
However, he acknowledged that the company should have highlighted sources more prominently, and has since made changes to do so.
The investigation is ongoing, and Amazon has not yet taken any action against Perplexity. The incident raises concerns about the use of AI and content scraping, and the need for companies to respect intellectual property and permissions.
Boluwatife Enome
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