Facepalm: A group of authors has sued Meta, alleging that the company used unauthorized copies of their books to train its generative AI models. While Meta has denied any wrongdoing, newly unsealed messages suggest that executives and engineers were well aware of their actions – and that they were violating copyright law.
The lawsuit filed by Sarah Silverman, Richard Kadrey, and other writers and rights holders against Meta may be entering its most critical phase. The authors have obtained internal company emails in which Meta employees openly discussed "torrenting" well-known archives of pirated content to train more powerful AI models.
Meta previously acknowledged using certain controversial datasets, arguing that such practices should be considered fair use. The company also admitted to downloading a massive dataset known as "LibGen," which contains millions of pirated books. However, the newly unsealed emails reveal deeper concerns within Meta about acquiring and distributing this data through the BitTorrent network.
According to the emails, Meta downloaded and shared at least 81.7 terabytes of data across multiple contentious datasets, including 35.7 terabytes from Z-Library and LibGen archives. The plaintiffs allege that Meta engaged in an "astonishing" torrenting scheme, distributing pirated books at an unprecedented scale.
In an April 2023 message, Meta researcher Nikolay Bashlykov wrote, "torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn't feel right." The message ended with a smiling emoji, but a few months later, his tone shifted significantly.
In September 2023, Bashlykov stated that he was consulting Meta's legal team because using torrents – and thereby "seeding" terabytes of pirated data – was clearly "not OK" from a legal standpoint.
Meta was apparently aware that its engineers were engaging in illegal torrenting to train AI models, and Mark Zuckerberg himself was reportedly aware of LibGen. To conceal this activity, the company attempted to mask its torrenting and seeding by using servers outside of Facebook's main network. In another internal message, Meta employee Frank Zhang referred to this approach as "stealth mode."
Like other major tech firms, Meta is pouring massive amounts of money into AI development and generative AI services. The company, which aims to populate its aging social networks with AI-generated personas and bots, recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit led by Silverman and other authors. However, the newly revealed emails detailing Meta's involvement in torrenting and distributing pirated books could significantly complicate its legal defense.
Meta used pirated books to train its AI models, and there are emails to prove it
