Encyclopaedia Britannica Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Misuse of Reference Materials

LootboxPhobia · 2026-03-17T03:32:25+00:00

The Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have sued OpenAI in Manhattan Federal Court, accusing the company of using their materials without authorization to train ChatGPT, resulting in lost website traffic and trademark infringement. They are seeking monetary damages and an injunction to stop the infringing conduct. This case is one of a series of lawsuits filed by copyright holders against tech companies for misuse of their materials.

LootboxPhobia

2026-03-17 03:32:25

Abstract generation in progress

Investing.com – The Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster Dictionary filed a lawsuit on Friday in Manhattan federal court against OpenAI, accusing the company of misusing its reference materials to train AI models.

According to the complaint, supported by Microsoft, OpenAI uses online articles, encyclopedia entries, and dictionary definitions to train its chatbot ChatGPT to respond to human prompts. The Encyclopedia Britannica alleges that OpenAI’s AI-generated content summaries are siphoning traffic from its website.

Spokespersons for both companies did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

This lawsuit is part of a series of legal actions by copyright owners (including writers and news media) against tech companies for using their materials without permission to train AI systems. Last year, the Encyclopedia Britannica filed a similar lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity AI, which is still ongoing.

AI companies defend their practices by claiming that transforming copyrighted content into new content constitutes fair use.

The Britannica complaint states that OpenAI copied nearly 100,000 of its articles to train the GPT large language model. The complaint alleges that content generated by ChatGPT is almost verbatim copies of Britannica encyclopedia entries, dictionary definitions, and other content, diverting users who would normally visit Britannica’s website to ChatGPT.

The lawsuit also accuses OpenAI of trademark infringement, implying it obtained permission to copy Britannica’s materials and falsely referencing Britannica in AI hallucinations.

Britannica seeks monetary damages and requests the court to order an end to the alleged infringement.

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