A federal judge has allowed a lawsuit against Meta to proceed, alleging that the company used copyrighted works without permission to train its AI models. This decision could set a significant legal precedent and potentially lead to substantial penalties for Meta.
In 2023, a group of authors, including comedian Sarah Silverman, filed a lawsuit against Meta and OpenAI. They claimed that these companies used their copyrighted material to train AI systems, which can reproduce their work accurately.
The lawsuit also alleges that both companies removed copyright information from the authors’ books to conceal the infringement.
Meta has tried to dismiss the case on several legal grounds and has sought to keep CEO Mark Zuckerberg from personally appearing in court. However, internal communications suggest that Zuckerberg approved the use of potentially pirated material to improve Meta’s AI models.
The judge’s ruling indicates that the authors have sufficiently alleged copyright infringement and that Meta intentionally removed copyright management information to hide this infringement.
While some claims were dismissed, the case will continue, potentially forcing Meta to disclose how it obtained data for its Llama AI models. This could lead to more lawsuits and significant financial penalties.
Read more: