AI search startup Perplexity has introduced Comet Plus, a $5-a-month tier for its Comet web browser that bundles access to premium journalism and channels most of the proceeds back to news providers. Pro and Max subscribers, who already pay $20 and $200 a month respectively, will receive the new service at no extra cost. The company has earmarked an initial $42.5 million for payouts and says participating publishers will receive 80 percent of subscription revenue. Payments will be calculated across three categories—direct visits to a publisher’s site, citations within Comet answers, and tasks completed by Perplexity’s AI assistant that rely on the publisher’s content—with the pool expected to expand as subscriber numbers grow. Perplexity’s overture comes amid mounting legal pressure over the use of copyrighted material. Dow Jones, the New York Post and a consortium of Japanese newspapers led by Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun have sued the San Francisco-based company, alleging that its AI models reproduce their articles without permission. By tying cash distributions to content usage, Perplexity aims to defuse criticism that AI search engines siphon value from original reporting. The startup, valued at roughly $18 billion and positioning itself as a challenger to Google, says it is still negotiating with prospective partners and will disclose its initial roster once Comet Plus becomes widely available this fall. "Perplexity only succeeds if journalism succeeds," Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas said in a statement announcing the program.