Encyclopedia Britannica is suing OpenAI for allegedly ‘memorizing’ its content with ChatGPT

Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT was trained using their copyrighted material and subsequently generated responses that were “substantially similar” to their content. Britannica claims OpenAI repeatedly copied its content without authorization, with GPT-4 “memorizing” and outputting near-verbatim copies of significant portions on demand. The lawsuit includes examples of direct textual matches between OpenAI’s models and Britannica’s published work. Britannica also alleges that OpenAI is diverting web traffic by providing direct answers that compete with its own content, rather than directing users to the Britannica website. This lawsuit is part of a growing trend of copyright claims against AI companies, following similar actions by The New York Times and a recent settlement with Anthropic involving copyrighted books.

(Source：The Verge)