Google Sued For Using Data And Copyright In AI Training

Google is accused of training AI with unlicensed data. (photo: twitter @GoogleAI)

JAKARTA - Google is currently facing a lawsuit after its recent privacy policy update. The plaintiffs accused the tech company of misusing large amounts of data, including copyrighted material, in artificial intelligence (AI) training.

The class-action lawsuit was filed on July 11 by eight individuals claiming to represent "millions of class members" - internet users and copyright holders - who have violated their privacy and ownership rights as a result of Google's privacy policy update.

In its initial statement, the plaintiffs accused Google of "collecting data in secret" to build its AI product without approval.

"It was recently revealed that Google is secretly stealing everything that has ever been made and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of Americans," the lawsuit read.

Google's privacy policy changes now allow it to take publicly available data for artificial intelligence training (AI) purposes.

The lawsuit shows that Google's decision not only violates rights but also provides an "unfair advantage" compared to its competitors, who legally derive or purchase data to train AI.

"It must be understood by Google, once and for all: they don't have the internet, they don't have our creative works, they don't have our own expressions, photos of our families and children, or anything because we share them online," said Ryan Clarkson of the law firm. Clarkson, attorney of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs argue that "public availability" never means "free use for any purpose."

According to the lawsuit, Google has the potential to pay compensation of more than $5 billion. The lawsuit also requested a court order requiring Google to obtain explicit permission from users first.

This includes providing users with the option not to participate in "violating data collection," along with the ability to delete existing data or provide "fair compensation" to data owners.

Earlier this week, writer and comedian Sarah Silverman, along with two other authors, filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT creators OpenAI and Meta over the use of copyrighted work without permission in AI training.

Previously, OpenAI was also faced with other lawsuits related to alleged data collection.