On June 25, 2025, a federal court in California dismissed a lawsuit brought by thirteen authors against Meta Platforms, Inc. The authors claimed Meta violated their copyrights by using their books, downloaded from free online libraries, to train its Llama artificial intelligence system. The court ruled that Meta’s actions were protected under “fair use” because the books were not used for reading or sharing, but to help train the AI model to learn language patterns. The judge explained that Meta’s purpose was very different from that of the original books, and the model did not recreate or give access to the books in any meaningful way. At most, it could only generate short snippets, no more than a sentence or two.

The authors argued that Meta’s use could hurt book sales or interfere with future licensing deals for AI training. But the court found there was no clear evidence of actual harm. It also said that copying the full text of the books was reasonable for training purposes, especially since people using the AI cannot access the original content. Although the court agreed that the books were highly creative and deserving of protection, that alone was not enough to outweigh the fact that Meta’s use was transformative and not a substitute for the books themselves.

The judge made clear this ruling applies only to this specific case. It does not mean all AI training on copyrighted materials is automatically lawful. Future cases with stronger evidence of harm or closer copying could reach a different result. For businesses and organizations that create and share original content online, such as guides, reports, or educational materials, this case is also a reminder to consider how publicly accessible content might be used by AI developers. The court’s reasoning suggests that publicly available creative works, even if lawfully posted, could be used for AI training without notice or compensation if the use is deemed transformative and does not directly compete with the original. Organizations should review how and where they publish original materials, especially if maintaining control or licensing opportunities is a priority.

If you have any questions regarding the information above, please contact Ann Grottveit at agrottveit@ksclawyers.com.