Britannica Launches Copyright Lawsuit After ChatGPT Outputs Mirror Its Articles
Encyclopaedia Britannica is suing OpenAI, claiming the company trained ChatGPT using thousands of copyrighted encyclopedia and dictionary entries without permission.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges OpenAI copied around 100,000 Britannica and Merriam-Webster articles and used them to train models like GPT-4. According to Reuters and The Verge, the publishers argue the AI can generate responses that closely resemble their original text.
Britannica says those responses substitute for its own content and pull readers away from its website, reducing traffic and revenue. The complaint also accuses OpenAI of trademark violations, alleging the chatbot sometimes cites Britannica incorrectly or implies authorization that does not exist.
OpenAI disputes the claims, saying its models are trained on publicly available data and rely on fair-use protections.
The case joins a growing wave of lawsuits from publishers and authors targeting AI companies over how large language models are trained.
If successful, the case could reshape how AI developers use copyrighted material online.
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