ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Publishers and Author Sue Meta Over AI Training on Pirated Books

other · 2026-05-05

Five major publishing houses—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster—along with novelist Scott Turow have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. The suit alleges that Meta used pirated copies of millions of books and journal articles without permission to train its Llama large language models. The plaintiffs claim Meta knowingly copied and used copyrighted works from shadow libraries such as Library Genesis and Z-Library, violating copyright law. This legal action adds to growing scrutiny of AI companies using copyrighted material for training data. The case highlights tensions between intellectual property rights and the rapid development of generative AI technologies.

Key facts

  • Five major publishers and novelist Scott Turow are suing Meta.
  • The lawsuit alleges Meta used pirated books and journal articles to train its Llama AI models.
  • The works were allegedly sourced from shadow libraries like Library Genesis and Z-Library.
  • The plaintiffs include Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.
  • Scott Turow is a novelist and plaintiff in the case.
  • The suit claims Meta knowingly infringed copyrights.
  • This is part of broader legal challenges against AI companies over training data.
  • The case raises questions about copyright and AI development.

Entities

Artists

  • Scott Turow

Institutions

  • Hachette Book Group
  • HarperCollins Publishers
  • John Wiley & Sons
  • Penguin Random House
  • Simon & Schuster
  • Meta Platforms Inc.
  • Library Genesis
  • Z-Library

Sources