YouTubers sue Snap for using their videos to train AI
What's the story
A group of YouTube creators has sued Snap for allegedly using their videos without permission to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The plaintiffs, who run three YouTube channels with a total of around 6.2 million subscribers, claim that Snap has used their content in its AI features such as the "Imagine Lens" tool. This feature lets users edit images based on text prompts.
Allegations
YouTubers accuse Snap of violating data use agreements
The YouTubers have accused Snap of using a large-scale video-language dataset called HD-VILA-100 million, among others, that were only meant for academic and research purposes. They allege that Snap bypassed YouTube's technological barriers, terms of service, and licensing restrictions to use these datasets commercially. The plaintiffs are now seeking statutory damages and a permanent injunction to stop the alleged copyright infringement in the future.
Leadership
The lawsuit is led by popular YouTube creators
The lawsuit is spearheaded by the creators of the h3h3 YouTube channel, which boasts 5.52 million subscribers. Other channels involved in this legal battle include smaller golfing channels MrShortGame Golf and Golfholics. This case adds to a long list of lawsuits between content creators and AI model providers over copyright disputes involving the publishers, authors, newspapers, user-generated content sites, artists, etc.
Legal landscape
Over 70 copyright infringement cases filed against AI companies
According to the Copyright Alliance, a nonprofit organization, more than 70 copyright infringement cases have been filed against AI companies. Some cases have seen tech giants like Meta winning in court while others, such as the one between Anthropic and a group of authors, have resulted in settlements with plaintiffs being compensated for their claims. Many of these legal battles are still ongoing.