Apple has been sued in a California federal court by two neuroscientists who claim the company illegally used thousands of copyrighted books to train its Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence model.
Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, professors at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, filed a proposed class action on Thursday, alleging that Apple relied on illegal “shadow libraries” containing pirated works to develop its AI technology.
This case follows another lawsuit filed last month by a separate group of authors accusing Apple of misusing their work in AI training.
A Widening Legal Battle Against Tech Giants
The lawsuit against Apple joins a growing wave of copyright cases targeting major tech companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, over the unauthorized use of creative materials for AI model training. In August, AI startup Anthropic reportedly agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a similar lawsuit from a group of authors regarding its chatbot Claude.
Details of the Complaint
The neuroscientists allege that Apple used datasets containing thousands of pirated books and other copyrighted content scraped from the internet. Among the works cited in the complaint are their own titles, “Champions of Illusion: The Science Behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles” and “Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions.”
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to prevent Apple from further misusing their copyrighted material.
Apple’s Response and Context
Neither Apple nor representatives for Martinez-Conde and Macknik immediately responded to media requests for comment.
Apple Intelligence, launched earlier this year, is a suite of AI-powered features integrated across iOS devices, including the iPhone and iPad. According to the lawsuit, Apple’s market value surged by more than $200 billion the day after it officially introduced Apple Intelligence — “the single most lucrative day in the company’s history.”
