Zuckerberg approved use of pirated content to train Meta's AI model
Meta faced a copyright infringement lawsuit back in 2023, but a new filing made public on Wednesday (January 8) revealed shocking claims that could put the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in an uncomfortable spotlight.
Allegations of Using Pirated Content
The group of plaintiffs in this lawsuit alleges that Meta used pirated content, including copyrighted books and articles, to train its Llama AI models with permission from its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. This controversy began when a group of authors sued the social media giant for using their copyrighted works to train its large language model – Llama – without their consent. Authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman were among the plaintiffs.
Court Rulings and Fresh Allegations
In November 2023, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed the AI copyright lawsuit against Meta, stating that the claims of copyright infringement were unfounded. However, in a recent development, the authors have requested permission to submit an updated complaint, citing internal documents that allegedly show Meta was aware of using pirated content for AI training. They claim Meta utilized a dataset known as LibGen, containing millions of pirated works, and distributed it through peer-to-peer torrents.
Involvement of Mark Zuckerberg
The authors now allege that Mark Zuckerberg himself approved the use of the LibGen dataset, despite being aware of its pirated nature. LibGen, known as a 'links aggregator,' offers access to copyrighted materials from major publishers and has a history of legal issues related to copyright infringement. The authors also accuse Meta of trying to conceal its copyright infringement by removing attribution from the LibGen data.
Meta has consistently denied any wrongdoing in using copyrighted content for AI training but has not yet responded to the latest allegations made by the authors. With recent controversies surrounding its content moderation policies, Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, continues to face scrutiny over its practices.
