Meta accuse of using pirated books to teach artificial intelligence

By Alimat Aliyeva

The Meta company has been accused of using the pirated Libgen library to train its latest artificial intelligence model, a fact uncovered by a study published by The Atlantic. The library contains over 7.5 million books, including many copyrighted Swedish works, which has sparked significant backlash from Swedish authors, Azernews reports.

In response, 53 Swedish authors of children's and youth literature have sent an open letter to the Swedish Minister of Culture, Parisa Liestrand, urging her to take action. The authors are demanding greater transparency from Meta about which of their works have been used in training the AI, as well as compensation and the right to refuse the use of their works.

"Meta creates new content using the work of others and profits from it," said Inti Chavez Perez, one of the authors who signed the letter. "We lack the resources to defend ourselves against a multibillion-dollar corporation. This battle must be fought at the governmental level."

In addition to the Swedish authors, several writers in the UK, including Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, have raised concerns about Meta’s alleged plagiarism. A representative from Meta responded to The Guardian, stating that the company disagrees with these allegations and will vigorously defend itself and its artificial intelligence model.

This controversy is part of a growing debate around intellectual property rights in the age of AI. As generative models like Meta’s become increasingly sophisticated, the question of whether using copyrighted works without permission constitutes theft or fair use remains a contentious issue. In fact, the debate has sparked wider discussions about the ethics of AI training and the potential need for clearer laws and regulations to protect creators' rights. While AI models can democratize access to knowledge, they also raise fundamental questions about the value of human creativity and how it should be safeguarded in a rapidly advancing technological landscape.