5 verified, source-linked AI implementations documented between 2024–2026.
Copyright lawsuit against Perplexity AI (filed May 28, 2026, US District Court Southern District of New York); CNN alleges Perplexity scraped more than 17,000 CNN stories, photos, videos and other content to power its AI products; complaint alleges Perplexity distributes 'identical or substantially similar' content and presents inaccurate or fabricated information as though it originates from CNN; CNN had previously tried to negotiate a licensing deal with Perplexity in 2024 but failed to agree on content-use limits; ODDITY: CNN simultaneously has a Perplexity Comet Plus content licensing partnership for browser subscribers (Oct. 2025), making this a 'double bind' — CNN both licenses to and sues Perplexity; first AI copyright action by CNN and believed to be the first by any US television network; CNN asking court for statutory damages and injunction; Perplexity responded: 'You can't copyright facts'
CNN journalism (current and archival) licensed for integration into Meta's Llama large language model and Meta AI chatbot; deal enables Meta AI to provide real-time news with attribution and links to CNN articles; part of Meta's December 2025 wave of news publisher licensing deals that also included Fox News, People Inc., USA Today Co., Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and Le Monde; financial terms not disclosed
CNN content licensed and made accessible to Comet Plus browser subscribers as part of Perplexity's $5/month browser subscription; one of seven named launch partners at Comet Plus announcement (Oct. 2, 2025); 80% of Comet Plus subscription revenue distributed to publishers proportionally based on human visits, search citations and agent actions; CNN content referenced in AI-generated answers and accessible through Perplexity's Comet AI browser; distinct from CNN/Meta content licensing deal
AI-powered semantic search replacing keyword/manual-metadata-dependent search of CNN's video archives;" enables discovery by meaning across decades of broadcast footage
AI transforms broadcast footage to vertical format for CNN's new subscription streaming service and Shorts section of its app;" enables multi-platform distribution without manual reformatting
CNN is one of 182 organizations in United States documented in the index, which holds 363 cases from the country. Its work spans 4 function types, including Content Licensing & Partnerships, documented across 65 organizations worldwide.