Overview

• An initial $42.5 million fund underwrites early payments, with publishers receiving 80% of subscription revenue and Perplexity retaining 20% for compute and operations.
• Payouts are triggered by direct visits from the Comet browser, on-screen AI citations, and tasks completed by AI agents, with traffic categorized as human-driven, indexed, or agent activity.
• Perplexity says Comet Plus gives subscribers in-browser access to premium news content as part of a model intended to move beyond clicks and pageviews.
• Active lawsuits from major outlets including Dow Jones, The New York Times, Forbes, Condé Nast, Nikkei, and Asahi Shimbun provide the legal backdrop for the revenue-share approach.
• Early reaction is skeptical in places, with TechRadar warning that AI summaries could reduce readership and author visibility even if publishers are compensated.