Facebook Apparently Trained Its AI by Torrenting Pirated Books Stolen From Authors – Casson Living – World News, Breaking News, International News

Recent revelations from unsealed court documents suggest that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been implicated in using pirated books from Library Genesis to enhance its AI training models. These documents indicate that even Mark Zuckerberg gave the green light to this controversial practice, raising significant legal and ethical questions.

Library Genesis, often referred to as LibGen, functions as a “shadow library,” providing free access to an extensive range of literature, articles, and magazines. The decision by a major corporation like Meta to tap into this resource highlights the lengths to which some companies will go to gather data for their artificial intelligence initiatives.

While Meta and other tech giants maintain that their use of such materials is justified under the “fair use” doctrine, the ongoing legal disputes with authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman will ultimately clarify the validity of this claim. Newly revealed documents also indicate that some Meta employees were aware of the questionable nature of their actions, with one engineer expressing unease about downloading torrents on a company laptop.

Mark Zuckerberg’s direct involvement in sanctioning the use of pirated content further complicates Meta’s narrative of innocence. Plaintiffs argue that this revelation significantly weakens any potential defense the company may offer, particularly in light of evidence suggesting that Meta was actively involved in distributing the pirated books by seeding their torrents.

This situation underscores the complex ethical and legal issues that the tech industry faces as it seeks data for AI development. As this controversy unfolds, it will be interesting to see how it influences the practices of Meta and similar companies moving forward.