Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in a federal court in Manhattan. The companies claim that OpenAI used their content without permission to train its artificial intelligence system, ChatGPT.

According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York on March 13,  OpenAI allegedly copied a large number of Britannica’s encyclopedia articles and dictionary entries to teach ChatGPT how to respond to user questions. 

Britannica has claimed that this has harmed its business because people now rely on AI-generated answers instead of visiting its websites. The plaintiff has argued that this has reduced its web traffic and affected its revenue.

The lawsuit also claims that ChatGPT can sometimes produce answers that are very similar to Britannica’s original content, almost word-for-word. Britannica says this is a violation of copyright law. In addition, the company accuses OpenAI of misleading users by suggesting that it had permission to use Britannica’s material.

Britannica also raised concerns about incorrect information. It said ChatGPT sometimes gives wrong answers while citing Britannica as a source, which could damage its reputation for accuracy and trust.

The company is asking the court for financial compensation and wants OpenAI to stop using its content. It claims that nearly 100,000 of its entries were copied to train AI models.

OpenAI has denied the allegations. A spokesperson told Reuters that the company’s models are trained using publicly available data and follow fair use principles. OpenAI also argues that its system creates new responses rather than simply copying existing material.

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