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CNN filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence startup Perplexity on Thursday, claiming the company "unlawfully copied and distributed" the news media's content, AzerNEWS reports.

"The public rely on high quality news journalism reported by human beings to understand their world, which is frequently dangerous and expensive to produce. Commercial operators can and must pay to make use of it," CNN said in a statement.

Over the past year, the AI startup has also been the target of multiple lawsuits based on similar allegations, including those from Reddit and the New York Times.

The filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York indicates that CNN sought to strike a content deal with Perplexity last year but did not agree on terms.

“As a result, before and after Perplexity’s negotiations with CNN, Perplexity knew that it was not permitted to access CNN’s content or to use its trademarks or service marks,” the lawsuit states.

The network emphasized in a statement that it “actively embraces the opportunities AI creates” and has “multiple commercial partnerships, active agreements, and ongoing discussions with responsible industry players.”

One such deal, with Meta, was publicly reported last December.

The statement said CNN would prefer “sensible licensing arrangements” with operators, “but if they refuse to do that, as Perplexity has so far refused to do, they will have to pay through legal damages. There is no free option.”

News Corp, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Encyclopedia Britannica and the Japanese media company Yomiuri Shimbun have also taken legal action against Perplexity in the past two years.

However, publishers including Gannett, TIME, Le Monde and Der Spiegel have announced deals with Perplexity during that same period.