John Carreyrou, the renowned New York Times investigative reporter and author of "Bad Blood," has filed a lawsuit against the world's leading AI developers.
The suit, filed in California federal court, targets Google, xAI, OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and Perplexity for allegedly using copyrighted books to train their Large Language Models (LLMs) without authorization.
Carreyrou and five fellow authors accuse these companies of "pirating" their high-value intellectual property to power chatbots. Notably, this is the first major copyright case to name Elon Musk’s xAI as a defendant.
Unlike previous litigation, this group is explicitly avoiding a class-action status. The plaintiffs argue that class-action settlements often result in "bargain-basement rates" for creators. They cited Anthropic’s recent $1.5 billion settlement, claiming authors in that case received only about 2% of the statutory maximum of $150,000 per infringement. By filing as individuals, the writers seek higher, specific damages.
Company Responses
Perplexity: A spokesperson denied the claims, stating the company "doesn't index books."
Other Defendants: Google, Meta, and OpenAI have not yet provided official comments regarding the filing.
The lawsuit is led by attorney Kyle Roche. Carreyrou has been vocal about the issue, previously describing the unauthorized use of books for AI training as the "original sin" of companies like Anthropic.
This legal move marks a significant shift in how creators are battling "Big Tech." By opting out of the class-action model, Carreyrou is setting a precedent that could encourage other high-profile authors to pursue individual, high-value claims.
Legal experts are watching closely to see if the courts will allow these individual suits to proceed simultaneously with existing class actions, as this could significantly increase the financial liability for AI firms.
