Encyclopedia Britannica is suing OpenAI for allegedly ‘memorizing’ its content with ChatGPT
On Friday, Encyclopedia Britannica and dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it used its copyrighted content to train its AI and then generated responses “substantially similar” to their content, as Encyclopedia Britannica previously reported. Reuters.
According to Britannica, OpenAI has repeatedly copied its content without authorization, stating: “GPT-4 itself has ‘memorized’ much of Britannica’s copyrighted content and will produce near-verbatim copies of significant portions upon request. The memorized examples are unauthorized copies that [OpenAI] used to train their models, including GPT-4.
The lawsuit then includes sample responses from OpenAI’s models side-by-side with Britannica’s text, in which entire passages appear to match word for word. Britannica also claims that OpenAI “cannibalized” its web traffic by generating answers that “directly replace or compete” with Britannica’s content, rather than directing users to its website as a traditional search engine would.
It’s the latest in a growing series of copyright lawsuits filed by publishers against AI companies in recent years. The New York Times has made similar allegations in its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI, notably accusing the AI company of copying massive amounts of its copyrighted content. In September, Anthropic settled a class-action lawsuit for using copyrighted books to train its AI models, resulting in a $1.5 billion payout to the books’ authors.
