Encyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI for 'illegally using nearly 100,000' articles to train ChatGPT

Encyclopedia Britannica – the world’s oldest continuously published English-language general encyclopedia – and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in Manhattan federal court, accusing the ChatGPT-maker of ‘illegally’ using their materials to train it AI chatbot, and then using that same AI to divert the very readers who would otherwise visit their websites.

Citing the complaint, news agency Reuters says that this marks the latest in a growing wave of copyright lawsuits brought by content creators, authors and media organisations against AI companies for allegedly profiting from their work without permission or payment.

What Encyclopedia Britannica is alleging

The lawsuit claims that OpenAI copied nearly 100,000 of its articles, including encyclopedia entries, dictionary definitions, and other reference content, to train the large language models (LLMs) that power ChatGPT.

Britannica also claims that ChatGPT now produces “near-verbatim” copies of its content in response to user queries. It also cited examples, saying that ChatGPT is delivering Britannica's work to users without sending those users to Britannica’s website.

The complaint goes further, accusing OpenAI of trademark infringement, specifically, of implying it has permission to reproduce Britannica's material when it does not, and of wrongfully citing Britannica as a source in AI-generated responses that are factually incorrect.

Britannica is seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages, and a court order blocking the alleged infringement from continuing:

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully demand judgment against Defendants as follows:

a. Awarding Plaintiffs statutory damages, actual damages, restitution of profits, and any other relief that may be permitted by law or equity;b. Permanently enjoining Defendants from engaging in the unlawful conduct alleged herein;c. Awarding Plaintiffs costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees as permitted by law; andd. Awarding Plaintiffs such other or further relief as the Court may deem just.

What OpenAI has to say

OpenAI did not directly address the specific allegations in the lawsuit. “Our models empower innovation, and are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use,” an OpenAI spokesperson was quoted as saying. This is not the first time that an AI company is facing lawsuit. In fact, OpenAI itself has previously faced multiple lawsuits, including one by The New York Times (2023–2024), another by The Authors Guild in 2023, and ANI Media in November 2024.

Meanwhile, Britannica itself is no stranger to this fight as the organisation has filed a separate lawsuit against AI search startup Perplexity AI over similar allegations, and that case is still ongoing.