Apple has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit by authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, who allege the company used pirated versions of their books to train its artificial intelligence systems without permission or payment.
The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, claims that Apple's web scraper, Applebot, accessed "shadow libraries" containing unlicensed copyrighted books to train Apple Intelligence, the company's AI technology integrated into its latest devices.
According to the complaint, Apple "copied the copyrighted works" of the plaintiffs "to train AI models whose outputs compete with and dilute the market for those very works, works without which Apple Intelligence would have far less commercial value."
The authors argue that Apple, despite being one of the world's most valuable companies with a market capitalisation exceeding $5 trillion, made no attempt to compensate them for their contributions to what they describe as a "potentially lucrative venture."
"This conduct has deprived Plaintiffs and the Class of control over their work, undermined the economic value of their labor, and positioned Apple to achieve massive commercial success through unlawful means," the filing states.
The lawsuit against Apple joins a mounting wave of legal challenges facing companies developing generative AI technologies.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, faces multiple lawsuits, including cases brought by The New York Times and America's oldest nonprofit newsroom.
In a notable precedent, Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, recently agreed to pay USD $1.5 billion (approximately $2.25 billion) to settle a similar class action complaint.
That case, also brought by authors alleging the use of pirated books from online libraries for AI training, will reportedly see 500,000 authors receive USD $3,000 (approximately $4,500) per work.
Apple Intelligence, launched with iOS 18 and integrated into the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series (starting from $1,399 and $1,199, respectively, in Australia), represents Apple's major push into generative AI.
The technology powers features including advanced writing tools, image generation, and enhanced Siri capabilities.
The lawsuit could have significant implications for Apple's AI strategy, particularly as the company has positioned itself as privacy-focused and ethically conscious in its approach to technology development.
Apple has not yet responded publicly to the allegations.
The plaintiffs are seeking class action status due to what they describe as the "sheer number of books and authors found in shadow libraries."
If granted, this could potentially involve thousands of authors whose works may have been included in the alleged training datasets.
Both lead plaintiffs are established authors with multiple published works.
Grady Hendrix is known for horror novels, including "The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires," while Jennifer Roberson has written numerous fantasy series including "The Sword-Dancer Saga."
The case highlights ongoing tensions between AI developers and content creators over the use of copyrighted material for training large language models.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into consumer products, from smartphones to laptops, questions about fair use, compensation, and consent continue to challenge the industry.
For Australian consumers using Apple products with AI features, the outcome could influence future availability and capabilities of AI services, as well as potentially affecting pricing if companies are required to pay licensing fees for training data.
The lawsuit adds to growing scrutiny of AI training practices globally, with regulators in various jurisdictions examining whether current copyright laws adequately address the challenges posed by machine learning technologies.