Apple sued for using copyrighted books to train Apple Intelligence
Two neuroscience professors filed a lawsuit alleging that Apple used pirated books, including their own copyrighted works, in datasets to train Apple Intelligence without authorization. The complaint is one of several copyright infringement cases against major tech companies over AI training practices.
What happened
Neuroscientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, professors at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, filed a proposed class action lawsuit in California federal court alleging that Apple used unauthorized "shadow libraries" of pirated books to train Apple Intelligence.
The complaint names two of the professors' copyrighted works included in the pirated materials: "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."
Apple acknowledged in April 2024 that it used The Pile dataset to train its OpenELM language model, which contained the Books3 database of pirated books. Books3 was removed from The Pile in October 2023 due to copyright disputes.
Reported impact
The lawsuit alleges that Apple misused thousands of copyrighted books and other copyright-infringing materials scraped from the internet to train its AI system without authorization.
The complaint notes that Apple gained more than $200 billion in market value the day after officially introducing Apple Intelligence, described as the single most lucrative day in the company's history.
Index analysis
The lawsuit is one of multiple high-stakes cases brought by copyright owners including authors, news outlets, and music labels against tech companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms over unauthorized use of their work in AI training.
In August 2025, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from authors over the training of its Claude AI chatbot, establishing precedent for copyright claims in AI development.
Governance controls
Apple's use of The Pile dataset, which contained Books3, was acknowledged in April 2024 as part of training for the OpenELM language model.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.