India, Oct. 23 -- Reddit Inc. has sued Perplexity AI Inc. for "industrial-scale data laundering", as AI firms increasingly scrape websites-often without permission-for original content to train their large language models.

Three data-scraping companies-OxyLabs UAB, AWMProxy and SerpApi-have been illegally collecting Reddit data via Google Search for the purposes of selling it, according to the complaint filed in a federal court in Manhattan, New York. Perplexity was buying the data from at least one of the companies.

"AI companies are locked in an arms race for quality human content-and that pressure has fuelled an industrial-scale data laundering economy," Reddit's Chief Legal Officer Ben Lee said in a statement. "Reddit is a prime tar...