Apple is facing a new legal challenge over the training data behind its AI push. Two neuroscientists have filed a proposed class-action complaint in federal court in California, alleging that Apple used thousands of copyrighted — and allegedly pirated — books to train Apple Intelligence, the company’s on-device AI suite. This report is based on coverage by Reuters.
Professors Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik of SUNY Downstate filed the suit, saying their books were among thousands of copyrighted works Apple allegedly used without permission. The complaint names specific titles — including “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” — and seeks monetary damages plus an injunction to stop Apple from continuing the alleged practice.
According to the complaint, Apple relied on datasets that included “shadow libraries” — large collections of pirated books scraped from the internet — as part of the training material for Apple Intelligence. The plaintiffs argue that Apple’s model benefited enormously from that material: the suit notes Apple’s market value jumped roughly $200 billion the day after Apple introduced Apple Intelligence.
The case lands in a legal and commercial landscape already crowded with fights over how big tech builds AI. Authors, publishers, news organizations and music rights holders have sued other AI companies — and some defendants have paid large settlements. Reuters notes that Anthropic, for example, agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with a group of authors earlier this year. Those outcomes make these cases not just about principle, but real financial risk for AI builders.
This lawsuit is one item in a long line of copyright-related claims over AI training data. Courts will need to parse complex questions: did defendants copy protectable expression; did the model’s training and output constitute “fair use” in the legal sense; and what obligations do companies have to verify the provenance of massive web-scraped datasets? Past settlements and pending cases suggest outcomes will vary by jurisdiction, the particulars of the dataset, and evolving judicial views about AI and copyright.
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