Authors Accuse Meta of Using Pirated Books for AI Training

Meta Platforms is accused by a group of authors of using pirated copyrighted books with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's approval to train its AI systems. The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, highlights the tech giant's alleged use of the LibGen dataset, containing unauthorized works. Authors seek to revive copyright claims.

In a dramatic legal development, Meta Platforms is facing accusations from a group of authors for allegedly using pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence systems, with the approval of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The allegations surfaced in recently unveiled court papers.

Among the plaintiffs are notable figures like Ta-Nehisi Coates and comedian Sarah Silverman, who assert that Meta misappropriated their books as part of its AI model training regimen. They claim newly disclosed internal documents reveal that Meta was aware the works were pirated but proceeded regardless, using datasets from LibGen for training their language model Llama.

The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, challenges Meta's claims of fair use and aims to revive copyright infringement and management information claims. The court is set to determine the writers' request to file an amended complaint, though skepticism has been expressed about certain claims by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.

(With inputs from agencies.)