Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster Sue OpenAI
Two dictionary giants sue OpenAI for copyright infringement, claiming ChatGPT steals and rewrites their content without permission.
Britannica also says OpenAI breaks the law when it copies their words exactly or uses them in ChatGPT’s search tool. This tool helps ChatGPT find new information on the internet. Britannica claims OpenAI should not make up fake facts and blame them for it.
Britannica wrote: “ChatGPT makes us lose money by answering people’s questions instead of sending them to our websites.” They worry ChatGPT makes it hard for people to find good, true information online.
Many other companies are doing the same thing. The New York Times, Ziff Davis (which owns Mashable and others), and over a dozen newspapers have sued OpenAI too. The Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, and Toronto Star are some of them.
A similar case about Perplexity is still waiting in court. The law is not clear about whether using books and articles to teach AI is okay. A judge said Anthropic could do it but only if they paid for the books, not stole them.
People have applied to join the lawsuit worth $1.5 billion. OpenAI did not answer when TechCrunch asked them for a statement.