Apple Inc. is once again facing legal scrutiny—this time over its foray into artificial intelligence. Two neuroscientists have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of unlawfully using copyrighted books to train its new generative AI system, Apple Intelligence, a core component of Apple’s latest iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems.
The Allegations
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, claims Apple relied on massive online repositories of pirated books—often referred to as “shadow libraries”—to train the language models that power Apple Intelligence. The plaintiffs, Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde and Dr. Stephen Macknik, both neuroscientists at the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, allege that Apple’s AI systems used their copyrighted works without authorization.
Among the books allegedly used are the researchers’ published works, Champions of Illusion: The Science Behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles and Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions. The authors argue that Apple’s use of their intellectual property constitutes a blatant violation of U.S. copyright law.
The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order to stop Apple from using their works—or any copyrighted material—without proper licensing.
Apple Intelligence and Its Role in Apple’s AI Push
Apple introduced Apple Intelligence in June 2025, touting it as a revolutionary system that integrates generative AI across its ecosystem of devices. The technology enables tools such as writing assistance, summarization, personalized notifications, and image generation, all embedded directly into iOS and macOS software.
The complaint highlights that following the announcement of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s market valuation rose by more than $200 billion in a single day—an event described by the plaintiffs as “the single most lucrative day in the company’s history.” The lawsuit argues that this surge was fueled by the company’s use of copyrighted works without permission, unfairly benefiting from creators’ intellectual labor.
Growing Legal Battles Over AI Training Data
Apple’s case adds to a growing list of lawsuits targeting tech companies for alleged misuse of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems. Similar claims have been filed against OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Stability AI, among others, by authors, publishers, and artists.
These lawsuits generally center on the same legal question: Can AI developers lawfully use copyrighted works found online to train their systems without permission or compensation? The answer remains unsettled, as courts have yet to issue a definitive ruling on whether such training falls under the doctrine of “fair use.”
In a closely related matter, earlier in 2025, AI startup Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims from authors who alleged that the company trained its language models using their copyrighted works. The settlement was widely viewed as a landmark case in defining the boundaries of intellectual property in the AI era.
The “Shadow Libraries” at the Heart of the Complaint
The lawsuit against Apple specifically references “shadow libraries”—web-based repositories such as Bibliotik, Z-Library, and Library Genesis—which host millions of pirated e-books, academic articles, and other written works. AI developers have been accused of scraping these libraries to build large-scale text datasets for model training.
Plaintiffs Martinez-Conde and Macknik allege that Apple’s AI partners and data suppliers accessed these shadow libraries to feed Apple Intelligence’s training models, allowing Apple to bypass the time and cost of licensing legitimate data sources.
The lawsuit contends that such practices amount to “mass theft of intellectual property,” enabling Apple to benefit from years of authors’ research, writing, and creative output without proper attribution or compensation.
Apple’s Response and Industry Implications
As of now, Apple has not publicly commented on the lawsuit, nor have representatives for the plaintiffs issued further statements. The company has previously emphasized that Apple Intelligence is designed with “privacy at the core” and operates using “on-device processing” whenever possible. However, the lawsuit suggests that Apple’s model training process involved large-scale data collection from external sources—contradicting the company’s public commitment to ethical AI development.
Legal experts note that this case could have significant implications for the tech industry at large. If the court determines that Apple’s alleged use of copyrighted content constitutes infringement, the decision could reshape how AI developers acquire and process training data. It could also lead to stricter regulations and licensing requirements for generative AI systems, similar to what music and film industries underwent during past intellectual property disputes.
The Broader Legal Landscape
Over the past year, authors and publishers have become increasingly vocal about their concerns regarding AI training. Bestselling authors such as George R.R. Martin, Sarah Silverman, and John Grisham have all filed lawsuits claiming their works were used without consent by AI firms.
Courts are still grappling with the question of whether AI companies’ use of copyrighted text for model training qualifies as a “transformative” use—one of the key elements in a fair use defense. Legal scholars say the Apple lawsuit could help set an important precedent as the judiciary begins to define the limits of fair use in artificial intelligence.
What Comes Next
The case is still in its early procedural stages, with Apple expected to respond to the complaint in the coming weeks. Depending on the outcome, this lawsuit could become a major test of how U.S. copyright law applies to AI models trained on vast amounts of text and media from the internet.
If courts rule in favor of the plaintiffs, it may open the door to further litigation against other AI developers, forcing technology companies to rethink how they source and license training materials.
For now, Apple’s latest legal challenge underscores the growing tension between innovation and intellectual property rights—an issue that could define the next phase of AI regulation worldwide.
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