Apple Faces Lawsuit Over Use of Copyrighted Books in AI Training

Apple is currently embroiled in a class-action copyright lawsuit filed by authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson. The suit alleges that Apple used their copyrighted books without permission to train its artificial intelligence systems, including the OpenELM language model, which is part of the company’s Apple Intelligence AI initiative.

The authors claim Apple incorporated their protected works into a dataset of pirated books without obtaining consent, providing credit, or offering any form of compensation. They argue that despite the commercial potential of Apple’s AI technology, the company failed to seek authorization or pay them for the use of their creative content.

This lawsuit is part of a growing wave of legal challenges targeting major technology companies accused of using copyrighted materials to train AI systems without permission. Similar cases have been brought against Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and OpenAI. Notably, Anthropic, another AI developer, recently settled a class-action lawsuit for at least $1.5 billion after being found to have stored millions of pirated books, though a judge had ruled its initial use of copyrighted works was “fair use.”

The outcome of Apple’s case could have far-reaching consequences for the AI industry. It raises pressing questions about how AI companies access, utilize, and compensate for copyrighted works in their training datasets. Authors and publishers continue to express growing concerns about the unauthorized use of their creative works in AI development, seeking clearer legal protections and fair remuneration.