If successful, these lawsuits could increase the cost of building AI models by requiring companies to compensate content creators for the use of their works. Additionally, new provisional rules in Europe could force companies to disclose the data they use to train their models, potentially exposing them to more legal risk. Meta has not yet responded to the allegations.
Key takeaways:
- Meta Platforms is facing lawsuits for allegedly using thousands of pirated books to train its AI models, despite warnings from its legal team about potential copyright infringement.
- The lawsuits were brought by prominent authors including comedian Sarah Silverman and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, who claim Meta used their works without permission.
- Chat logs from a Meta-affiliated researcher discussing the procurement of the dataset could serve as evidence that Meta was aware its use of the books may not be protected by U.S. copyright law.
- If successful, these lawsuits could increase the cost of building AI models by requiring companies to compensate content creators for the use of their works, potentially slowing the generative AI trend.