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Novelist Sues Meta Over AI Use of Books

By  |  October 2, 2024
Novelist Christopher Farnsworth has filed a class-action copyright lawsuit against Meta Platforms, alleging the tech company used his works and others without permission to train its artificial intelligence (AI) systems. According to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Farnsworth claims that Meta used pirated versions of his books to help train its LLaMA large language model, which powers the company’s AI chatbots, according to Reuters.

Farnsworth’s complaint is part of a growing wave of legal challenges aimed at major tech firms over their use of copyrighted materials to develop AI technologies. Several prominent authors, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and comedian Sarah Silverman, have brought similar claims against Meta. These lawsuits, like Farnsworth’s, accuse the company of improperly using their works to train its AI without obtaining the necessary licenses.

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    The lawsuit was filed by the prominent class-action firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. This comes on the heels of a federal judge allowing well-known litigator David Boies, along with other lawyers from Boies Schiller Flexner, to join the legal team representing authors in an earlier lawsuit against Meta. The addition of Boies brings significant legal firepower to the plaintiffs’ side.

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    Meta has yet to publicly respond to the new allegations, and representatives for both the company and Farnsworth’s legal team did not immediately issue any statements when contacted by Reuters.

    Read more: Greek Regulator Investigates Novartis for Alleged Unfair Practices

    Farnsworth’s lawsuit highlights the increasing tension between copyright holders and tech companies, as generative AI systems like Meta’s LLaMA rely on vast amounts of data, often including text from books, music and art, to learn how to generate human-like responses. Many in the creative industries argue that such use amounts to infringement, while tech companies have maintained that these practices are protected under the copyright doctrine of “fair use.”

    The outcome of these cases could have significant implications for the AI industry, which relies heavily on training models with large datasets. If courts rule against companies like Meta, it could result in stricter limitations on how AI systems are developed and trained, impacting the future of AI development.

    Source: Reuters.