Perplexity CEO offers AI company’s services to replace striking NYT staff

Date:

Share post:


The CEO of AI search company Perplexity, Aravind Srinivas, has offered to cross picket lines and provide services to mitigate the effect of a strike by New York Times tech workers.

The NYT Tech Guild announced its strike Monday, after setting November 4 as its deadline months earlier. The workers represented provide software support and data analysis for the Times, on the business side of the outlet. They have been asking for an annual 2.5% wage increase and to cement a current two days per week in-office expectation, among other things.

“But the company has decided that our members aren’t worth enough to agree to a fair contract and stop committing unfair labor practices,” the guild wrote on X.

“They have left us no choice but to demonstrate the power of our labor on the picket line,” said Kathy Zhang, the organization’s unit chair, in a statement.

The NYT’s publisher, AG Sulzberger, criticized a strike two days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, saying in a statement, “Hundreds of millions of people are depending on The Times’s journalism on Election Day and afterward, and it is troubling that the Tech Guild would try to block this public service at such a consequential moment for our country.”

Picketers demonstrated in front of the NYT building in New York as negotiations continued. Meanwhile, on X, formerly known as Twitter, Perplexity’s CEO offered to step in for the striking workers.

Replying to Semafor media editor Max Tani quoting the publisher, Srinivas wrote: “Hey AG Sulzberger @nytimes sorry to see this. Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. DM me anytime here.”

Many on X immediately castigated Srinivas for acting as a scab — a derogatory term for people willing to perform the jobs of striking workers. It is widely considered a disreputable behavior in matters of labor and equity. By undercutting collective action, scabs limit the ability of workers to bargain with those in positions of power.

Srinivas may simply be trying to make sure people have the information they need on election day. The company has lately unveiled its own elections info hub and map. But to offer its services explicitly as a replacement for striking workers was bound to be an unpopular move.

Though TechCrunch asked Perplexity for comment, Srinivas responded to TechCrunch’s post on X saying that “the offer was *not* to ‘replace’ journalists or engineers with AI but to provide technical infra support on a high-traffic day.” The striking workers in question, however, are the ones who provide that service to the NYT. It’s not really clear what services other than AI tools Perplexity could offer, or why they would not amount to replacing the workers in question. (However, in response to the clarification, we have opted to change the headline to reflect the claim that this offer was not necessarily specific to AI services.)

The NYT and Perplexity aren’t exactly on the best of terms right now. The Times sent Perplexity a cease and desist letter in October over the startup’s scraping of articles for use by its AI models. In a conversation last week with TechCrunch, the normally outspoken CEO declined to define “plagiarism.”



Source link

Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden is a news writer for LinkDaddy News. She writes health, sport, tech, and more. Some of her favorite topics include the latest trends in fitness and wellness, the best ways to use technology to improve your life, and the latest developments in medical research.

Recent posts

Related articles

WhatsApp rolls out voice message transcripts

WhatsApp announced on Thursday it’s rolling out voice message transcripts. The Meta-owned company says the new feature...

Threads adjusts its algorithm to show you more content from accounts you follow

After several complaints about its algorithm, Threads is finally making changes to surface more content from people...

Spotify tests a video feature for audiobooks as it ramps up video expansion

Spotify is enhancing the audiobook experience for premium users through three new experiments: video clips, author pages,...

Candela brings its P-12 electric ferry to Tahoe and adds another $14M to build more

Electric passenger boat startup Candela has topped off its most recent raise with another $14 million, the...

OneRail’s software helps solve the last-mile delivery problem

Last-mile delivery, the very last step of the delivery process, is a common pain point for companies....

Bill to ban social media use by under-16s arrives in Australia’s parliament

Legislation to ban social media for under 16s has been introduced in the Australian parliament. The country’s...

Lighthouse, an analytics provider for the hospitality sector, lights up with $370M at a $1B valuation

Here is yet one more sign of the travel industry’s noticeable boom: a major growth round for...

DOJ: Google must sell Chrome to end monopoly

The United States Department of Justice argued Wednesday that Google should divest its Chrome browser as part...