Elsevier vs. Meta: first science publisher sues over scraped research papers

Elsevier is one of several publishers alleging that their copyrighted works were used to train AI models. Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Alamy A scientific publisher has joined the dozens of firms and individuals suing artificial intelligence companies over their alleged use of copyrighted works in training AI models. Elsevier – which publishes thousands of journals, including Cell and The Lancet – was part of a class-action lawsuit filed on 5 May against technology company Meta and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in the Southern District of New York. Also named as plaintiffs on the lawsuit are book-publishing giants Hachette and Macmillan, and the US fiction author and lawyer Scott Turow. The publishers allege that Meta obtained and reproduced copyrighted works in developing its large language model (LLM) Llama. “This case is the first AI action brought by major publishing houses, who have their own story to tell about Meta’s flagrant violation of their rights,” said the Association of American Publishers, in a statement. AI firms must play fair when they use academic data in training The case mirrors those of authors and media companies – including The New York Times – suing AI firms on similar grounds. Some cases have been settled but, overall, they have yet to establish a clear precedent on whether it is legal to use copyrighted works to train an LLM. A Meta spokesperson has said the company would “fight this lawsuit aggressively”. …