A disturbing trend has emerged involving Perplexity, a multi-million dollar company, which has been utilizing AI to exploit its users. The company’s AI-powered system is designed to siphon funds from unsuspecting customers, dismiss complaints, and disregard consumer protection laws.

A recent incident highlighted this issue, where a payment for an Education Pro subscription was initially declined, resulting in account suspension. After manual payment and reactivation, the account was only accessible for 13 days before being stripped of its Pro status and locked again, with the company citing a retroactive payment application as the justification.

This practice exemplifies unjust enrichment and is not an isolated occurrence. Perplexity’s AI support agent, Sam, is programmed to systematically deny refunds and evade requests to escalate issues to human managers. The AI’s responses follow pre-programmed loops, disregarding the unique circumstances of each case.

Perplexity’s actions flagrantly violate EU directives, including Directive (EU) 2019/770 and Directive 2011/83/EU. The company exploits the fact that the amounts stolen are relatively small, anticipating that users will abandon their claims due to the exhausting process of interacting with the AI-powered support system.

It is crucial for users to be aware of their rights and challenge such practices. The use of AI to perpetuate scams and violate consumer rights is a growing concern, and companies must be held accountable for their actions.

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