New Delhi: Apple has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in the California federal court on the allegations that the tech giant has misused thousands of copyrighted books to train its latest Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence model. The plaintiffs, neuroscientist Susana Martinez Conde and Stephen Macknik, claim Apple utilised illegal shadow libraries of pirated books to develop the AI system. According to some sources, Martinez Conde and Macknik, professors at SUNY Downstate Health Science University in Brooklyn, New York, allege that the company used datasets comprising thousands of pirated books and other copyright-infringing materials.
Among the specific copyrighted works cited in the complaint are their books Champions of Illusion, The Science behind Mind Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles, and Sleights of Mind, which the Neuroscience of Magic reveals about their everyday deceptions, the reports stated. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a court order to stop Apple from unlawfully misusing the copyrighted material.
This lawsuit follows a separate complaint filed by another group of authors against Apple last month over the alleged misuse of their work in AI training. The case is one of many high-stakes lawsuits brought by copyright owners, including authors, news outlets, and music labels, against major tech firms as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms over the unauthorised use of creative works for AI training. The plaintiffs’ filing highlighted the immense financial stakes involved for Apple. The lawsuit noted that the day after Apple officially introduced Apple Intelligence, the company gained more than $200 billion in value, calling it the single most lucrative day in the history of the company.
