Perplexity signs deal to use Getty Images (www.engadget.com)

Perplexity AI has struck a multi-year licensing partnership with Getty Images to integrate Getty’s vast stock and editorial image library into Perplexity’s AI search and discovery tools via Getty’s API. The deal requires correct attribution — including image credits with links back to sources — and Perplexity says it will improve how imagery is displayed to educate users on legal usage. Technically, the integration means Perplexity can surface licensed images directly in results rather than relying on scraped or unlicensed content, with metadata and source links passed through the API to preserve provenance. The agreement is notable for the AI/ML community because it reinforces a shift toward licensed content feeds and clearer attribution as remedies for the legal, ethical, and business risks that have dogged generative and retrieval systems. Perplexity has recently faced multiple suits (Nikkei, Asahi Shimbun, Reddit and others) over alleged copying and misattribution, while Getty has both banned AI-generated art and pursued litigation against tools like Stable Diffusion. This deal sets a commercial precedent: licensed APIs can reduce copyright exposure and improve traceability, but they also raise questions about cost, data access, and how licensed assets may or may not be used for model training or downstream generation.