According to Gate News, on March 17, the Encyclopaedia Britannica and its subsidiary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court last Friday (March 14) against OpenAI, accusing the company of using their online articles, encyclopedia entries, and dictionary definitions without permission to train ChatGPT. The complaint states that OpenAI illegally copied nearly 100,000 Britannica articles to train its large language model, GPT, and that ChatGPT can produce responses that are “almost verbatim” to encyclopedia entries and dictionary definitions, diverting users who would otherwise visit their websites.
Britannica also accuses OpenAI of trademark infringement: first, implying authorized use of their content; second, incorrectly citing Britannica as a source in AI-generated false “hallucinations.” Britannica is seeking court orders for damages (amount unspecified) and an injunction to stop further infringement. An OpenAI spokesperson responded, “Our models drive innovation, trained on publicly available data, and based on fair use.” Last year, Britannica filed a similar lawsuit against AI search startup Perplexity AI, which is still pending.
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