Meta Platforms (Meta) is requesting the lawsuit filed by comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors to be dismissed. The lawsuit alleges that Meta infringed their copyrights by employing their books to train its AI system, Llama. Meta argued in front of US District Judge Vince Chhabria that the authors failed to demonstrate that Llama's software code or output substantially resembled their works, an essential aspect of copyright infringement. Meta contended that the plaintiffs' argument that every Llama-generated creation was an infringing derivative of their books was unfounded and had been rejected by the Ninth Circuit as frivolous. Furthermore, Meta contends that their use of the books during AI training falls under the fair use doctrine. The authors' legal representatives maintain their confidence in their claims, and the legal proceedings are set to continue.

Why does it matter?

This lawsuit is part of a broader trend where tech giants face legal challenges over AI practices. Furthermore, it is part of a larger legal battle, where copyright holders challenge the practices of companies such as Meta, Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google, and others in their AI training procedures. The result could have implications for other companies using similar AI training techniques. If Meta's arguments prevail, it could impact how authors' works are used in AI training without explicit consent.