tech
March 16, 2026
The dictionary sues OpenAI
Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster say that OpenAI violated the copyright of almost 100,000 articles by using them for LLM training.
TL;DR
- Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement.
- They allege OpenAI used nearly 100,000 articles for LLM training without permission.
- The lawsuit claims OpenAI's AI generates verbatim reproductions and competes with publisher content.
- Britannica also alleges OpenAI violates trademark law with false attributions of AI-generated hallucinations.
- This lawsuit adds to a growing number of publishers suing OpenAI over copyright issues.
- There is no strong legal precedent on using copyrighted content for LLM training, with one case ruling it transformative but another resulting in a settlement over data acquisition.
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