• Google recently updated its privacy policy to allow data scraping for AI training purposes, prompting a class-action lawsuit.
• The plaintiffs accuse Google of misusing large amounts of data, including copyrighted material, in artificial intelligence (AI) training without consent.
• The lawsuit is seeking upwards of $5 billion in damages and for Google to obtain explicit permission from users before collecting their data.
Google Hit With Lawsuit Over New AI Data Scraping Privacy Policy
Google recently updated its privacy policy to allow data scraping for AI training purposes, prompting a class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of misusing large amounts of data, including copyrighted material, in artificial intelligence (AI) training without consent. Filed by eight individuals who claim to represent “millions of class members” — internet users and copyright holders — the lawsuit is seeking upwards of $5 billion in damages and for Google to obtain explicit permission from users before collecting their data.
Data Harvesting In Secret
In its opening statement, the plaintiffs accuse Google of “harvesting data in secret” to build its AI products without consent. The lawsuit points out that Google’s decision not only violates rights, but gives it an “unfair advantage” compared with its competitors, which lawfully obtain or purchase data to train AI.
Lawsuit Demanding Rights & Fair Compensation
The plaintiffs argued that “publicly available” does not and has never entailed that it is “free to use for any purpose.” As such they are demanding a court order requiring Google to obtain users’ explicit permission first as well as allowing them the ability to delete already existing data or provide “fair compensation” to owners of the data used by the tech giant illegally.
Author Sarah Silverman Sues OpenAI & Meta
Earlier this week, author and comedian Sarah Silverman together with two other authors filed a separate lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Meta for their use of copyrighted work without permission for artificial intelligence (AI) training purposes.
Multi-Billion Dollar Damage Claim
The total damage claims brought forward by both lawsuits come up to around $10 billion dollars combined if successful– making this one legal battle sure worth watching closely!