• 2 min read
Publishers sue Google over Gemini training data
Major publishers and authors say Google used copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission and altered copyright data to hide it.
Image: TechCrunch
A new class action lawsuit accuses Google of using copyrighted books to train Gemini without permission, adding to the growing wave of legal challenges over AI training data. The plaintiffs include Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E.
According to the complaint, Google not only copied the works for training but also intentionally removed or altered copyright information to “conceal… that its Gemini Models were trained on stolen materials.” The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The suit arrives as courts are still sorting out whether training AI models on copyrighted material counts as fair use under U.S. copyright law. Two early decisions in California have favored AI companies, finding that such training qualifies as fair use under a legal framework that predates the internet. But the issue remains unsettled.
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One major exception so far was Anthropic, which was fined $1.5 billion for pirating the works it trained on — the largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright law. Around half a million writers were eligible for payments of at least $3,000, though many opted out so they could continue pursuing claims related to AI training.
In this case, the publishers argue their relationship with Google makes the dispute more specific. For years, they say, they provided books to Google Books so titles could be searched and displayed as short snippets with bibliographic information, not reproduced in full. The lawsuit also claims Google used books uploaded to the Google Play store for Gemini training without authorization.
“Google illegally copied works from all these scope-limited programs for AI training, knowing it lacked authorization to do so.”
The plaintiffs also point to an internal Google document that allegedly warned using copyrighted books for AI training could be “highly problematic for Google” and expose the company to “$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines.” Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AI Editor
Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via TechCrunch
