Authors Sue Apple Over Using Their Books In AI Training

Apple was hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in federal court in Northern California, accusing the company of illegally using copyrighted books to train its AI systems. Authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson allege Apple copied their works without consent, credit, or compensation, and that the company relied on a known body of pirated books to train its “OpenELM” language models. The case adds to a growing wave of lawsuits against major tech firms, including Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, over alleged misuse of copyrighted material in AI training. It follows Anthropic’s disclosure that it will pay $1.5 billion to settle similar claims from authors, a record copyright recovery. Apple and the plaintiffs’ lawyers did not immediately comment on the filing.

Reuters, Mike Scarcella – Apple sued by authors over use of books in AI training – 6th September 2025