(16 Mar 2026) Encyclopedia Britannica and its Merriam-Webster subsidiary have sued OpenAI in Manhattan federal court for allegedly misusing their reference materials to train its artificial intelligence models.
Britannica said in the complaint, opens new tab filed on Friday that Microsoft-backed OpenAI used its online articles and encyclopedia and dictionary entries to teach its flagship chatbot ChatGPT to respond to human prompts and “cannibalized” Britannica’s web traffic with AI-generated summaries of its content.
Britannica’s lawsuit said that OpenAI unlawfully copied nearly 100,000 of its articles to train GPT large language models. The complaint said that ChatGPT produces “near-verbatim” copies of Britannica’s encyclopedia entries, dictionary definitions and other content, diverting users who would otherwise visit its websites.
Britannica also accused OpenAI of infringing its trademarks by implying that it has permission to reproduce its material and wrongfully citing Britannica in false AI “hallucinations.”
The news in full is here.
