Apple sued for using copyrighted books to train its AI
What's the story
Apple has been slapped with a lawsuit by two neuroscientists, Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik. The professors from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, have accused the tech giant of illegally using thousands of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence (AI) model, Apple Intelligence. The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court on Thursday.
Legal claims
Illegal use of 'shadow libraries' for AI training
The lawsuit alleges that Apple used illegal "shadow libraries" of pirated books to train its AI. This is not the first time such allegations have been leveled against tech companies. A group of authors had also sued Apple last month, claiming their work was misused in AI training. These cases are part of a larger trend where copyright owners are taking legal action against companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms for unauthorized use of their work in AI training.
AI suite
Financial impact of the launch
Apple Intelligence is a suite of AI-powered features integrated into iOS devices like iPhones. The lawsuit highlighted the financial impact of this launch, saying that "the day after Apple officially introduced Apple Intelligence, the company gained more than $200 billion in value: 'the single most lucrative day in the history of the company.'"
Training data
Specific examples of copyrighted works used in AI training
The complaint further claimed that Apple used datasets of thousands of pirated books and other copyright-infringing materials scraped from the internet to train its AI model. The lawsuit specifically mentioned Martinez-Conde and Macknik's works, Champions of Illusion: The Science Behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles, as well as Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions.