Did Perplexity offer The New York Times AI strikebreakers to cover the US election?

The union that represents mosts New York Times tech workers, not the journalists who cover the news, but its more than 600 software engineers, data analysts and designers, are on strike, and have issued a statement calling for a salary increase of 2.5% and an agreement to work in the office two days a week.

Few surprises there: unmet workers’ demands and pressure tactics on election day in the United States, a particularly intense news cycle that requires all hands on deck.

But suddenly, an uninvited actor, Aravind Srinavas, CEO of Perplexity, uses X to offer Times’ CEO A.G. Sulzberger, help to ensure that the paper’s essential coverage is available to all of its readers on this important day, a move widely interpreted as an offer to replace striking workers with what might be called AI scabs.

Criticism was immediate, accusing Srinivas of trying to profit from the strike, taking AI into uncharted territory. What’s more, the move comes at a time when relations between The New York Times and Perplexity are not exactly at their best: the newspaper is suing it, claiming the company feeds its algorithms with Times’ content.

Srinivas says he is simply acting in the best interests of the country and that the offer was not to “replace”…