Meta Faces Lawsuit Over AI Training with Copyrighted Books
Meta Platforms is facing legal action over copyrighted books used to train its AI system. Authors, including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman, claim that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is using pirated copies of the books without permission. But, Meta argued that its use falls under the legal principle of “fair use.” According to them, this allows limited use of copyrighted material.
Fair Use for AI Innovation
Meta argues that its large language model, Llama, does not replace books but helps users perform tasks like writing reports. The company filed a motion in San Francisco federal court asking to dismiss the lawsuit. Meta's legal team claims the training process is protected by fair use, which covers research, education, and transformation of materials for new purposes. They emphasize that Llama does not replicate books entirely but transforms information in useful ways.
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Authors Challenge Meta’s Fair Use Argument
The authors filing the lawsuit disagree with Meta’s fair use defense. They argue that Meta intentionally used pirated copies of their books to benefit financially without compensating them. They claim the AI model copies large portions of their work to enhance its own business value.
Earlier this month, the authors requested the judge to reject Meta’s fair use claim. They presented the argument that this was a clear violation of copyright law.
The lawsuit is part of a broader debate on AI training data. Meta isn’t the only company facing this issue. Google and OpenAI are facing similar legal hurdles. The companies have been questioned about following or respecting copyright laws and compensation for creators for the use of their intellectual property.
