Encyclopedia Britannica and dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster have initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI, alleging that the artificial intelligence firm utilized their copyrighted material to train its models and subsequently produced outputs strikingly similar to their original content. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, contends that OpenAI's AI generates responses that are "substantially similar" to the publishers' works, as initially reported by Reuters.
According to Britannica's filing, OpenAI repeatedly copied its content without permission. The lawsuit specifically claims that “GPT-4 itself has ‘memorized’ much of Britannica’s copyrighted content and will output near-verbatim copies of significant portions on demand.” It further asserts that “The memorized examples are unauthorized copies that [OpenAI] used to train their models, including GPT-4,” highlighting the alleged misuse of intellectual property for AI training.
The legal complaint substantiates these claims with direct comparisons, presenting instances where OpenAI’s model responses appear to mirror Britannica’s text word-for-word. Beyond copyright infringement, Britannica also contends that OpenAI is "cannibalizing" its online traffic. By generating direct answers that "substitute, or directly compete" with Britannica’s offerings, OpenAI allegedly diverts users from visiting Britannica’s website, unlike traditional search engines that typically direct users to source content.
This lawsuit marks another significant development in the increasing number of copyright infringement cases brought by publishers against artificial intelligence companies over recent years. Notably, The New York Times is pursuing similar litigation against OpenAI, accusing it of illicitly copying vast quantities of its copyrighted journalistic content. Furthermore, in September, Anthropic reached a class-action settlement, agreeing to a $1.5 billion payout to authors whose copyrighted books were used to train its AI models without permission.
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