Last week, multiple French publishing organizations jointly lodged a legal complaint against Meta, accusing the company of unlawfully utilizing copyrighted materials to train its generative artificial intelligence, violating the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act.

The National Publishing Union (SNE), the Société des Gens de Lettres (SGDL), and the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC) have submitted their case to the Paris Judicial Court, challenging Meta’s adherence to the EU AI Act, which became effective in August 2024.

François Peyrony, the president of the SNAC, remarked that this unprecedented initiative in France aims to set a precedent for similar actions to safeguard authors from the potential threats posed by AI. He claims AI exploits authors’ works and cultural heritage for training purposes, leading to the creation of counterfeit books that compete with authentic authors’ publications.

The organizations seek a resolution to eliminate unauthorized data repositories used for training AI systems. Additionally, they are advocating for enhanced protections for authors and creators and compensation for those whose works are utilized to train generative AI models.

The AI Act mandates that generative AI adhere to transparency standards and EU copyright laws by indicating whether AI generated the content. Furthermore, it requires that generative AI systems be designed to prevent the production of illegal content and provide summaries of copyrighted materials used in training. Consequently, Meta may be in direct violation of these stipulations.