On Monday and a day before Election Day, tech workers for the New York Times went on strike seeking to secure a contract with fairer pay and just cause job protections. In response Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of AI search engine Perplexity, tweeted that the chairman of the New York Times company AG Sulzberger should contact him for assistance during the strike. It's unclear exactly what services Srinivas is offering Sulzberger, but it appears that the CEO of an AI company is trying to help the Times bypass its human workers who are currently in the middle of an authorized labor strike.
The offer is especially ironic given Perplexity’s repeated cases of lifting and regurgitating human journalists’ work without credit. Earlier this year Forbes found that the AI service was using much of its original investigative reporting without credit. And last month Dow Jones and the New York Post sued Perplexity, alleging “massive” copyright infringement.
“Hey AG Sulzberger @nytimes - sorry to see this,” Srinivas tweeted in response to a Sulzberger email saying the strike would likely continue through the election. “Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. DM me anytime here.”