The world's most famous printed dictionary, Encyclopedia Britannica, and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster have sued AI company OpenAI, accusing the company of copyright and trademark infringement.
Encyclopedia Britannica alleges that OpenAI has used the content of its encyclopedia and dictionary to train its AI models without permission. According to the lawsuit, OpenAI allegedly copied nearly 100,000 articles from Encyclopedia Britannica - and due to this copying, OpenAI's ChatGPT is able to reproduce Encyclopedia Britannica's content almost verbatim.
According to the publisher, the AI-generated responses are not limited to the training phase; ChatGPT is sometimes able to produce partial or complete copies of protected articles. Britannica considers this a threat to its website traffic and business, as users can obtain information directly from the AI without needing to visit the original source.
Britannica also raises concerns related to trademark infringement. According to the company, ChatGPT may in some cases include references to Encyclopedia Britannica in its responses in a way that could give the impression that OpenAI is using their material with permission. Furthermore, the AI can produce incorrect or fabricated content that is erroneously attributed to Encyclopedia Britannica. The company states that AI-invented claims, combined with the Encyclopedia Britannica brand, damage its reputation and credibility built over more than two hundred years.
In court, Encyclopedia Britannica is seeking both monetary damages and an injunction requiring OpenAI to cease using the company's content across all its services. Encyclopedia Britannica also aims to establish a legal precedent with this lawsuit, which would more clearly define the boundaries and permissions for materials used in training AI models.
OpenAI denies the allegations and defends itself by stating that its AI models have been trained on publicly available information and that such use can be considered fair use.
Encyclopedia Britannica has previously sued another AI operator, Perplexity, for similar reasons. OpenAI, in turn, has faced several lawsuits accusing it of unauthorized use of web content for training its AI.
According to the publisher, the AI-generated responses are not limited to the training phase; ChatGPT is sometimes able to produce partial or complete copies of protected articles. Britannica considers this a threat to its website traffic and business, as users can obtain information directly from the AI without needing to visit the original source.
Britannica also raises concerns related to trademark infringement. According to the company, ChatGPT may in some cases include references to Encyclopedia Britannica in its responses in a way that could give the impression that OpenAI is using their material with permission. Furthermore, the AI can produce incorrect or fabricated content that is erroneously attributed to Encyclopedia Britannica. The company states that AI-invented claims, combined with the Encyclopedia Britannica brand, damage its reputation and credibility built over more than two hundred years.
In court, Encyclopedia Britannica is seeking both monetary damages and an injunction requiring OpenAI to cease using the company's content across all its services. Encyclopedia Britannica also aims to establish a legal precedent with this lawsuit, which would more clearly define the boundaries and permissions for materials used in training AI models.
OpenAI denies the allegations and defends itself by stating that its AI models have been trained on publicly available information and that such use can be considered fair use.
Encyclopedia Britannica has previously sued another AI operator, Perplexity, for similar reasons. OpenAI, in turn, has faced several lawsuits accusing it of unauthorized use of web content for training its AI.
