Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas.SAUL LOEB/Getty ImagesPerplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas addressed the lawsuits the company is facing from news publishers.At a WSJ conference appearance, Srinivas said Perplexity was previously in conversations with Dow Jones.Perplexity is reportedly in talks to raise new funds in a deal that would value it at $8 billion.The simmering tensions between news publishers and search engines built with artificial intelligence spilled into public view Wednesday on a beachside conference stage."Let's talk about the elephant in the room," Aravind Srinivas, cofounder and CEO of Perplexity, opened his interview at Wall Street Journal's Tech Live conference.Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones, publisher of the Journal, and the New York Post filed a lawsuit in New York on Monday accusing Perplexity of "freeriding" on the journalism they produce.