Meta Platforms (META) is being accused of knowingly using pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications.
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The accusations have been made in a new lawsuit filed by author Ta-Nehisi Coates, comedian Sarah Silverman, and others who are taking legal action against Meta Platforms for copyright infringement. In the lawsuit, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is accused of approving the use of pirated versions of copyrighted works to train the company’s AI systems.
The plaintiffs who are suing Meta Platforms claim that internal documents produced by the social media giant show that the company knew the works being used with its AI products were pirated and violated copyright laws.
Intellectual Property
A growing number of individuals such as Ms. Silverman and organizations such as The New York Times Co. (NYT) are suing tech companies over the unauthorized use of their copyrighted content to train AI models and applications.
In the case of Meta Platforms, the authors involved argue that the company misused their books and other content to train its large language model called “Llama.” For their part, Meta and other defendants have argued that they made fair use of copyrighted materials.
So far, the legal actions have produced mixed results. A U.S. District Court Judge last year dismissed claims that text generated by Meta Platforms’ chatbots infringed on various authors’ copyrights and that Meta unlawfully stripped books of their content and violated copyright laws.
META stock has risen 65% in the last 12 months.
Is META Stock a Buy?
The stock of Meta Platforms has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 43 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 39 Buy, three Hold, and one Sell recommendations issued in the past three months. The average META price target of $683.72 implies 11.95% upside from current levels.
