Google is facing another lawsuit after a group of publishers and authors accused it of training Gemini on copyrighted material without permission. The case was filed in federal court in New York. The group of plaintiffs includes Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E.
The publishers argue that Google intentionally removed or changed copyright information embedded on these works to hide that Gemini had been trained on what the plaintiffs describe as stolen material.
According to the lawsuit, Google repurposed books that had been supplied for limited services such as Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar. Those services allowed Google to use their material in specific ways such as selling eBooks or displaying snippets. But, as the lawsuit states, it did not allow the use of material or training commercial AI products.
Google’s Push for AI Dominance and Publishers
Publishers and authors criticize Google for its plan to dominate in AI by hurting their work.
“Desperate to maintain its online dominance, Google abandoned its early motto of “Don’t be evil” and engaged in one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history. Google first illegally copied millions of books and journal articles to assemble a vast trove of copyrighted materials for its own commercial use.” The suit states.
The publishers say that Google’s actions are harming authors and the publishing industry, as AI content could negatively impact book sales.
Another Legal Battle in the AI Arena
It is not the first time that AI companies are facing legal battles over generative AI and copyright. Over the past few years, authors and publishers have filed lawsuits against Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. Two early decisions in California have favored AI companies, ruling that the use of copyrighted works is considered “fair use” under U.S. copyright law that has not been updated since before the existence of the internet. However, Anthropic was fined $1.5 billion for pirating the works it trained on, according to TechCrunch.
Challenges Ahead
The current lawsuit shows that this will continue as the AI models push for dominance in the arena of artificial intelligence. Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and other platforms are trying to get ahead in this race. The U.S copyright law has not been updated for a long time. That’s also adding more confusion.
Who is right? Google or Publishers? Tell us in the comments below.