Encyclopedia Britannica Is Now an AI Company

Once an icon of the 20th period seen arsenic obsolete successful the 21st, Encyclopaedia Britannica—now known arsenic conscionable Britannica— is each successful connected artificial intelligence, and whitethorn soon spell nationalist astatine a valuation of astir $1 billion, according to the New York Times.

Until 2012 when printing ended, the company’s books served arsenic the oldest continuously published, English-language encyclopedias successful the world, fundamentally collecting each the world’s cognition successful 1 spot earlier Google oregon Wikipedia were a thing. That has helped Britannica pivot into the AI age, wherever models payment from entree to high-quality, vetted information. More general-purpose models similar ChatGPT endure from hallucinations due to the fact that they person hoovered up the full internet, including each the junk and misinformation.

While it inactive offers an online variation of its encyclopedia, arsenic good arsenic the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Britannica’s biggest concern contiguous is selling online acquisition bundle to schools and libraries, the bundle it hopes to supercharge with AI. That could mean utilizing AI to customize learning plans for idiosyncratic students. The thought is that students volition bask learning much erstwhile bundle tin assistance them recognize the gaps successful their knowing of a taxable and enactment connected it longer. Another acquisition tech company, Brainly, precocious announced that answers from its chatbot volition nexus to the nonstop learning materials (i.e. textbooks) they reference.

Britannica’s CEO Jorge Cauz besides told the Times astir the company’s Britannica AI chatbot, which allows users to inquire questions astir its immense database of encyclopedic cognition that it collected implicit 2 centuries from vetted academics and editors. The institution likewise offers chatbot bundle for lawsuit work usage cases.

Britannica told the Times it is expecting gross to treble from 2 years ago, to $100 million.

A institution successful the abstraction of selling acquisition books that has seen its fortunes spell the other absorption is Chegg. The institution has seen its stock terms plummet astir successful lock-step with the emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, arsenic students canceled their subscriptions to its online cognition platform.

Similar to the emergence of Wikipedia before, it seems galore radical admit the entree and convenience of ChatGPT, adjacent if they cognize it cannot beryllium trusted entirely. Chegg has agelong had an online Q&A level for homework assistance wherever users tin wage to taxable questions and get answers back. But during the pandemic it saw a flood of caller users, threw contractors astatine answering caller questions, and simply could not support up with ChatGPT. Users person complained that solutions connected Chegg are excessively often wrong, particularly erstwhile they are submitted by different users alternatively than professionals.

Perhaps the prestigious marque and bequest of Britannica volition assistance it win successful this caller property wherever chatbots are inactive apt to instrumentality incorrect information. It seems similar schools are astatine slightest consenting to wage for entree to thing they are much assured in.