American lawyer and senior U.S. district judge in California
Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier and author Scott Turow have filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing Google of copying millions of copyrighted books — from Google Books, Play and web scrapes — and using them without permission to train its Gemini AI, seeking damages and an injunction while alleging Google hid identifying copyright data.
Booksellers report unusual bulk orders from multiple countries, hinting at a deliberate push to feed AI training data. Court rulings in the US have influenced industry practice, with reports of pulping or destructive scanning of titles to feed AI models. The pattern has drawn global attention and sparked debate about copyright and preservation.
The Justice Department has filed a brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times' copyright suit, arguing training large language models on published works is transformative fair use that advances national security and economic goals. Publishers argue the practice harms journalism and undercuts creators; Judge Sidney H. Stein is expected to rule on summary judgment soon.