Authors Protest Against Meta for Using Copyrighted Books to Train AI
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'Meta has stolen books': authors to protest in London against AI trained using 'shadow library'
Writers will gather at the Facebook owner's King's Cross office in opposition to its use of the LibGen database to train its AI models Authors and other publishing industry professionals will stage a demonstration outside Meta's London office today in protest of the organisation's use of
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Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models. Writers chanted "Meta, Meta, book thieves" as they made their way to the Meta building, with some carrying placards
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Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
London (AFP) - Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models. Writers chanted "Meta, Meta, book thieves" as they made their way to the Meta building, with some carrying
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Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
A US court filing earlier this year alleged that Zuckerberg approved the company using the online library "LibGen", which provides access to copyrighted works and contains more than 7.5 million books. A Meta spokesperson told the Guardian that "we respect third-party intellectual property rights
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Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the U.S. tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models. Writers chanted "Meta, Meta, book thieves" as they made their way to the Meta building, with some carrying placards
[6]
Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to develop AI
LONDON (ANN/AFP/THE STAR) - Around 100 authors on April 3 protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models. Writers chanted "Meta, Meta, book thieves" as they made their way to the Meta building, with
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Around 100 authors staged a protest outside Meta's London headquarters, accusing the tech giant of using copyrighted books without permission to train its AI models. The demonstration highlights growing tensions between content creators and AI companies over intellectual property rights.
Authors Stage Protest Against Meta's AI Training Practices
In a significant demonstration of discontent, approximately 100 authors gathered outside Meta's London headquarters to protest the company's alleged use of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence models
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. The protest, which took place on Thursday, saw writers accusing the tech giant of "stealing" their intellectual property for AI development.Allegations and Court Filings
The protest was sparked by a U.S. court filing earlier this year, which alleged that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had approved the use of "LibGen," a notorious "shadow library" containing over 7.5 million books, many of which are copyrighted
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. This revelation came to light when The Atlantic republished a searchable database of titles contained in LibGen, allowing authors to discover if their works had potentially been used to train Meta's AI models1
.Authors' Grievances
Prominent authors, including Kate Mosse, Tracy Chevalier, and Daljit Nagra, were among the protesters
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. AJ West, author of "The Spirit Engineer," expressed feeling "abused and disgusted" upon finding his work in the database2
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. West attempted to deliver a letter signed by leading authors to Meta's front desk but found the doors locked, which he described as "insult piled upon insult"2
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.Meta's Response
A Meta spokesperson stated, "We respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law"
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. However, this response has done little to assuage the concerns of the protesting authors.Economic Impact and Industry Reaction
The protest highlights the significant economic stakes involved. Gail Renard, an author and TV writer, pointed out that the creative industry is Britain's second-largest, contributing £125 billion ($164 billion) annually to the economy
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. The authors argue that unauthorized use of their work threatens the viability of their profession and the creative industries as a whole.Related Stories
Legal and Governmental Implications
The incident has raised calls for governmental intervention. Protesters urged UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to summon Meta executives to Parliament
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. The Society of Authors (SoA) characterized Meta's actions as "illegal, shocking, and utterly devastating for writers"1
. This protest is part of a broader trend of creators focusing their anger on companies developing generative AI platforms that use vast amounts of copyrighted material to build their models2
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.Ongoing Legal Battles
The protest in London is just one facet of the ongoing legal challenges faced by Meta. In the United States, a group of authors, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jacqueline Woodson, and Sarah Silverman, have filed a lawsuit against Meta for copyright infringement
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. These legal battles are likely to test the limits of "fair use" provisions that AI companies have relied upon to justify their use of copyrighted materials2
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.References
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