Meta Triumphs in Copyright Lawsuit Over AI Training with Books

A federal judge has sided with Meta Platforms against a group of authors who sued the tech giant, claiming it used their copyrighted books to train its AI system without permission, thereby infringing on their copyrights. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco ruled that the authors did not provide enough evidence to prove Meta's conduct diluted the market for their work under U.S. copyright law.

Judge Chhabria acknowledged that using copyrighted works without permission to train AI might be illegal in numerous scenarios, differing from another ruling by a separate judge in San Francisco. This recent decision does not confirm that Meta's use of copyrighted materials in AI training is legal. Instead, it indicates that the plaintiffs failed to make a strong case.

A spokesperson for Meta praised the decision, citing fair use as an essential framework for developing AI technologies. The authors, who sued Meta in 2023 for allegedly using pirated versions of their books for AI training, did not comment immediately. The case adds to several similar lawsuits against AI companies like OpenAI and Microsoft, focusing on the debate around copyright and AI training.

(With inputs from agencies.)