Copyright Clash: Federal Judge Rules for Meta Over AI Training Dispute

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Meta Platforms in a high-profile copyright case involving the use of authors' books for AI training. The decision was made by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of San Francisco, who found that the authors failed to provide enough evidence to prove that their market was impermissibly affected by Meta's use of their work.

Despite siding with Meta, Judge Chhabria noted that utilizing copyrighted materials without permission to train AI would be illegal under many circumstances. His ruling diverged from another San Francisco judge who earlier ruled that Anthropic's AI training constituted fair use under U.S. copyright law.

The authors' law firm expressed disagreement with the ruling, alleging Meta engaged in unprecedented copyright violations. Meanwhile, Meta appreciated the decision, emphasizing fair use as vital for AI development. This case is part of broader legal battles against AI companies over copyright issues.

(With inputs from agencies.)