Encyclopaedia Britannica, once a symbol of the 20th century, has become obsolete in the 21st century, becoming a symbol of artificial intelligence. And it may soon go public at a valuation of nearly $1 billion. new york times–
Until 2012 When printing endsIts books serve as the world's oldest continuously published English-language encyclopedia. It gathered all the world's knowledge in one place before Google or Wikipedia were created. This helps Britannica enter the AI era, where models Benefit from access to high quality, verified information. Other commonly used models, such as ChatGPT, are hallucinogenic. Because it has collected all internet information. Including all the garbage and misinformation.
Although the encyclopedia is still offered online, Including a dictionary Merriam-Webster But Britannica's biggest business today is selling online education software to schools and libraries. It's software that hopes to be empowered with AI. That could mean using AI to customize learning plans for each student. The idea is that students enjoy learning more when software can help them identify gaps in their understanding of a topic and stay with it longer. Another educational technology company consciouslyIt was recently announced This means that answers from chatbots are linked to the learning materials (such as textbooks) they refer to.
CEO of Britannica Jorge Caux Still told time About the company Chatbot Britannica AIIt allows users to ask questions about a vast encyclopedic knowledge base compiled from more than two centuries of handpicked scholars and editors. The company similarly offers chatbot software for customer service use cases.
Britannica told the Times that revenue will double from two years ago to $100 million.
A company that sells educational books that sees the reverse of fate is Chegg. The company has seen it happen. Stock prices fall It's almost in lockstep with OpenAI's ChatGPT increasing as students cancel their subscriptions to the online knowledge platform.
Like the rise of Wikipedia in the past, it seems that many people appreciate ChatGPT's accessibility and convenience, even though they know they can't be trusted entirely. Chegg has long had an online Q&A platform for homework help. Users can pay to submit questions and receive answers. But during the epidemic There are many new users. Contractors must answer new questions. And ChatGPT can't keep up. Users complain that Chegg solutions are wrong too often. Especially when it is submitted by another user instead of a professional.
Perhaps Britannica's prestigious brand and heritage will help it succeed in this new era where chatbots are still prone to sending inaccurate information. It appears that schools are at least willing to pay for access to something they are more confident about.