In recently unsealed court documents, it has been alleged that Meta, previously known as Facebook, knowingly utilized pirated books from Library Genesis to train its AI models. The documents reveal that Mark Zuckerberg himself approved of this practice, despite the legal and ethical concerns surrounding it.
Library Genesis, also known as LibGen, is a “shadow library” offering free access to a vast collection of books, articles, and magazines. The fact that a tech giant like Meta resorted to using pirated content from this platform underscores the audacity with which some companies operate in acquiring data for their AI projects.
While Meta and other AI leaders argue that using such data falls under “fair use,” the ongoing legal battle with authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman will ultimately determine the legitimacy of this defense. The newly unredacted documents also shed light on Meta employees’ awareness of the dubious nature of their actions, with one engineer expressing discomfort over torrenting content from a corporate laptop.
The involvement of Mark Zuckerberg in approving the use of pirated material further challenges Meta’s claims of innocence. The plaintiffs argue that this revelation undermines any defense Meta may attempt to present, especially considering evidence suggesting the company actively disseminated the pirated books by seeding their torrents.
This case highlights the ethical and legal dilemmas that arise in the tech industry’s pursuit of data for AI development. It remains to be seen how this controversy will impact Meta and other companies’ practices in the future.
