Meta Wins Major AI Copyright Suit, With an Asterisk

Judge Rejects Authors’ Claims that Meta Violated Copyright Law

Books are having a tough week in court. A federal judge in California has rejected 13 authors’ claims that Meta violated copyright law when it used their books to train AI tools without their permission. Bad news, but there’s a big catch: the ruling is limited to the authors who participated in the case and "does not mean that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials is lawful." In contrast to a different California judge’s decision earlier this week that use of copyrighted material to train AI is permissible as long as the materials are acquired legally, the judge in this case determined simply that the plaintiffs "made the wrong arguments" and "did not present sufficient evidence that Meta’s use of their books was harmful."

Two wins for big tech in one week is a hard pill to swallow, but/and we should take note that both decisions came with caveats that may provide useful direction for future suits. The Anthropic case establishes use of pirated books to train AI as illegal , and this case against Meta allows that using copyrighted books without permission, no matter how they’re obtained, may cause "market harm" of which authors must provide sufficient evidence. Technology has so far outpaced the law that this these cases are likely to move in fits and starts, wins and reversals, for longer than any of us want it to take. Hold onto your butts, folks.

Don’t miss your chance to win a $200 Books-A-Million gift card!  Enter the sweepstakes today. You can’t win if you don’t enter.

That Old Bookish Magic

What was the book that turned you into a capital-R Reader? At his Substack The New Dork Review of Books, original Book Riot contributor Greg Zimmerman reflects on the book that changed his life, and not just because it was the first one that compelled him to stay up all night reading.

It’s a novel about finding your destiny, about identifying what it is you are supposed to be doing, which for me I realized at that moment was trying to find more books like it. And if I couldn’t find more books like that one, I knew the quest would keep me happy for however long I got to stay on this floating rock in space.

It’s a lovely piece that taps into one of the best parts of being a book lover, and I so appreciate an opportunity to consider my own life-changing reads. The Sparrow. Gilead. Beloved. When Women Were Birds. Never Let Me Go. What would make your list? Let us know in the comments!

A Toolkit for the Next Generation of Activists

Teens have become integral leaders in the fight against book bans, but it can be hard to know where to start if there’s not already an advocacy group in your school or neighborhood. Enter The Freedom to Read Teen Advocacy Toolkit , a robust program and toolkit built for library workers, educators, and community organizations working with today’s young people to support and bolster teen advocacy and activism. Bravo to the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned program for creating an incredible resource. May their—and your—efforts succeed. Learn more about the toolkit here.