Nearly 100,000 articles copied without permission? Britannica files lawsuit against OpenAI

The publisher of one of the world’s most well-known reference encyclopedias, Britannica, has taken legal action against OpenAI. Its dictionary subsidiary, Merriam-Webster, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in Manhattan federal court.

The complaint alleges that OpenAI used Britannica’s online articles, encyclopedia entries and dictionary definitions to train its AI chatbot ChatGPT without permission. The companies claim this practice may have diverted readers away from their websites and reduced their online traffic.

What Britannica alleges in the lawsuit

According to the legal filing, Britannica argues that OpenAI copied a large amount of its reference material to train large language models. The complaint states that nearly 100,000 Britannica articles may have been used during the training process. Britannica also claims that ChatGPT sometimes produces responses that closely resemble its encyclopedia entries or dictionary definitions. The company said such outputs could lead users to rely on AI-generated answers instead of visiting Britannica’s own platforms. The lawsuit further alleges that OpenAI’s system occasionally cites Britannica as a source in responses that may contain incorrect information, which the company described as misleading. Britannica is seeking monetary damages and a court order that could block the alleged infringement.

Part of a wider legal battle over AI training data

The case is part of a growing series of lawsuits against artificial intelligence companies. Authors, news organizations, and publishers have increasingly challenged how technology firms collect data to train AI models. Many copyright owners argue that their material is used without permission or compensation. Britannica itself filed another lawsuit last year against Perplexity AI, which is still ongoing.

How AI companies defend their practices

Artificial intelligence developers have largely defended the way their systems are trained. Companies, including OpenAI, argue that training AI models on large datasets qualifies as “fair use” under copyright law. They say the technology does not reproduce original works directly but instead transforms the data into new outputs generated by machine learning models. Legal experts say the courts will ultimately decide how copyright law applies to generative AI.

Why the outcome could matter for the AI industry

The case highlights the tension between AI innovation and copyright protection. Large language models require vast amounts of data to learn language patterns and knowledge. Much of that data comes from publicly available content on the internet.

However, publishers argue that if AI systems summarise their work, it could affect advertising revenue and subscription models. According to industry analysts, the outcome of these legal disputes may influence how AI companies collect and license data in the future.

The bigger picture

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have expanded rapidly in recent years, attracting hundreds of millions of users worldwide. At the same time, concerns about copyright, transparency and data usage have grown among publishers and creators. The lawsuit by Encyclopaedia Britannica adds another high-profile case to the debate over how artificial intelligence systems should be trained. As courts begin examining these claims, the decisions could shape the rules for AI development, data ownership and digital publishing in the coming years.