Meta wins legal battle over AI training using copyrighted materials

In the United States, a notable legal ruling took place on June 26, 2025, involving Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a group of well-known authors, including Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, who accused Meta of illegally using their works to train its AI model, Llama. The judge's ruling determined that the company's actions fell under the doctrine of 'fair use' in copyright law, as they were deemed transformative. This legal challenge has highlighted the ongoing debates surrounding the use of copyrighted materials in creating artificial intelligence technologies. Chhabria clarified that while Meta was not found liable in this particular case, the ruling is limited to the plaintiffs involved and does not affirm the legality of Meta's practices in a broader context. The judge expressed concern regarding potential market harm and questioned whether companies could legally incorporate copyrighted works into their AI systems without the explicit permission from the rights holders. This has opened the door for other legal challenges alongside the original complaint by the authors, which also alleged violations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act regarding the removal of copyright management information. The authors' attorneys argued that Meta had engaged in significant copyright infringement by sourcing their literary works from online shadow libraries and feeding them into its AI system without due compensation. They contended that such practices could deprive authors of market share, undermining the original works' value. Meta's legal representatives countered that Llama does not output specific texts from the copyrighted materials and emphasized that the training process does not result in direct substitutes for the authors' books. The case had drawn substantial attention, not just for its implications on copyright law but also for its potential to reshape the relationship between technology companies and content creators. As the litigation progressed and internal conversations within Meta were disclosed, it became apparent that the ethical considerations of using pirated data have not been taken lightly by Meta executives. This judicial decision may influence future regulatory frameworks governing AI training and copyright, prompting further scrutiny of the practices that AI models adopt in learning from established works.