Encyclopædia Britannica Sues OpenAI for Theft Encyclopædia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have sued OpenAI, alleging that the AI company illegally copied nearly 100,000 articles to train its AI models. They claim ChatGPT produces near-verbatim copies of their content, cannibalizing internet traffic and stealing intellectual property. Britannica is seeking damages and an injunction against OpenAI’s alleged illegal practices.

• Encyclopædia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have sued OpenAI in a US court.
• The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI is misusing their materials for training AI models like ChatGPT.
• Britannica claims nearly 100,000 articles were illegally copied, with ChatGPT producing “near-verbatim” copies.
• The plaintiffs state that OpenAI’s AI “cannibalizes” their internet traffic and “steals” users.
• OpenAI is also accused of intellectual property theft and misrepresenting Britannica’s content in AI ‘hallucinations’.
• Britannica is seeking monetary damages and a court injunction to stop the alleged illegal practice.
• OpenAI maintains its models are trained on publicly available data and adhere to fair use principles.
• This lawsuit follows a trend of copyright holders suing tech companies over AI training data.