Source: TechCrunch

TechCrunch reports that a group of high-profile non-fiction authors, led by investigative journalist John Carreyrou (author of Bad Blood), has filed a major copyright infringement lawsuit against six prominent AI companies. The defendants include Google, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, and xAI. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that these companies systematically "ingested" thousands of copyrighted books to train their large language models without permission or compensation. The plaintiffs argue that their investigative work, which requires years of research, is being used to build products that could ultimately replace them.

The legal complaint focuses on the use of "shadow libraries" or pirated book repositories that tech companies allegedly used to acquire vast amounts of training data. Carreyrou and his colleagues emphasize that while AI companies claim "fair use," the scale and commercial nature of the appropriation go far beyond transformative use. They contend that AI models are capable of generating highly detailed summaries and mimicking the style of specific authors, creating a market substitute that devalues original literary works. This suit is unique because it unites authors from diverse genres against almost the entire major AI industry simultaneously.

The authors are seeking both statutory damages and a permanent injunction to prevent further unauthorized use of their works. Legal experts suggest this case could be a turning point for the creative industries, as it challenges the fundamental "move fast and break things" ethos of AI development. If the court rules in favor of the authors, it could force tech giants to enter into licensing agreements with individual creators or publishing houses, fundamentally altering the economics of AI training. The tech companies have yet to issue a detailed response but are expected to vigorously defend their practices under existing copyright exemptions.