Apple has been sued in a California federal court by two neuroscientists who claim the company used pirated versions of their books to train its new artificial intelligence system, Apple Intelligence.
Professors Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn filed a proposed class-action lawsuit on Thursday, accusing Apple of relying on “shadow libraries” — online repositories of illegally copied books — to build its AI training datasets.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple used thousands of copyrighted works, including the professors’ books Champions of Illusion and Sleights of Mind, without permission. According to the complaint, Apple’s use of such data contributed to a massive surge in its market value the day after Apple Intelligence was unveiled, calling it “the single most lucrative day in the history of the company.”
The case adds Apple to a growing list of major tech firms — including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta — facing lawsuits from authors, musicians, and media organizations over the unauthorized use of copyrighted content in AI training. In August, AI firm Anthropic settled a similar case for $1.5 billion.
Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit. Apple Intelligence, introduced earlier this year, is the company’s suite of AI-powered features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.