A group of writers, including Theranos whistleblower and Bad Blood author John Carreyrou, has filed a lawsuit against six major AI companies, accusing them of training their models on pirated copies of their books. The lawsuit targets Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, xAI, and Perplexity, alleging copyright infringement. This move comes after another set of authors filed a class action suit against Anthropic, which was dismissed by a judge who ruled that training on pirated copies of books was legal, but pirating the books themselves was not.

The plaintiffs argue that the proposed Anthropic settlement, which would provide eligible writers with around $3,000 from a $1.5 billion settlement, does not hold AI companies accountable for the actual act of using stolen books to train their models. These models generate billions of dollars in revenue, and the plaintiffs claim that the settlement serves the interests of the AI companies rather than creators.

"We believe that LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates, eliding what should be the true cost of their business model," said a spokesperson for the plaintiffs. "The proposed settlement is a slap in the face to authors who have had their work stolen and used to generate massive profits for these companies."

The lawsuit highlights the complex issue of copyright infringement in the context of AI-generated content. Large language models (LLMs) like those developed by the defendant companies rely on vast amounts of text data to train their models. However, this data often includes pirated copies of books, which raises questions about the ownership and use of intellectual property.

The use of pirated books in AI training is a contentious issue, with some arguing that it is a necessary step in the development of LLMs. Others, like the plaintiffs, argue that it is a form of copyright infringement that should be addressed through fair compensation for authors.

The lawsuit is the latest development in a growing debate about the impact of AI on the creative industries. As AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent, questions about ownership, authorship, and compensation are likely to become more pressing.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court ruling that would establish the rights of authors in the context of AI-generated content. They are also seeking damages and other relief for the alleged copyright infringement.

The case is expected to have significant implications for the AI industry, which has grown rapidly in recent years. As the use of AI-generated content becomes more widespread, the need for clear guidelines and regulations on copyright and intellectual property is likely to become more pressing.

The lawsuit is currently pending in court, and a hearing date has not been set. The outcome of the case is likely to have significant implications for the AI industry and the creative industries as a whole.