Apple Sued for Using Copyrighted Books to Train AI Models

Apple has been sued by authors for allegedly using copyrighted books to train its AI models without consent or compensation.

The lawsuit, filed in Northern California by Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, claims Apple used its web crawler, Applebot, to scrape pirated books from shadow libraries for nearly nine years before disclosing its AI training plans.

The authors argue their works were used to train Apple’s OpenELM large language models, directly violating copyright protections.

Apple markets its AI tools as Apple Intelligence, integrated across iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.

The case adds to a growing wave of lawsuits by authors and publishers against tech firms over intellectual property and AI training.

Recently, AI startup Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion (₹12,525 crore) to settle a lawsuit by authors over the unauthorized use of books to train its chatbot Claude.