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Britannica Sues OpenAI Over Copyright Infringement Claims

3/17/2026

Summary

Story summary

Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorized use of their copyrighted content to train AI.
They contend that OpenAI's GPT-4 memorized substantial portions of their material and produced near-verbatim outputs.
The complaint shows side-by-side comparisons with direct matches to Britannica's text.
Britannica accuses OpenAI of cannibalizing its web traffic by generating competing content, joining copyright actions against AI firms, including The New York Times.

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Story summary

Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorized use of their copyrighted content to train AI.
They contend that OpenAI's GPT-4 memorized substantial portions of their material and produced near-verbatim outputs.
The complaint shows side-by-side comparisons with direct matches to Britannica's text.
Britannica accuses OpenAI of cannibalizing its web traffic by generating competing content, joining copyright actions against AI firms, including The New York Times.