From Novels to Newsrooms: How AI’s Appetite Sparked a Copyright War

Microsoft is facing a fresh copyright lawsuit from a group of acclaimed authors, including Pulitzer winner Kai Bird and New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino, who allege the tech giant used nearly 200,000 pirated books to train its Megatron artificial intelligence system.

Filed in New York federal court, the complaint claims Microsoft exploited illegally sourced literary content to program an AI that mimics the authors’ voices, themes, and syntax without permission or compensation. The writers are demanding a court injunction and damages of up to $150,000 per work.

This lawsuit adds to the growing wave of legal actions targeting tech companies for their use of copyrighted material in AI training, with Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic also facing lawsuits.

While Microsoft has not commented, the broader debate centers on whether AI training can be considered “fair use” under U.S. law. The outcome of this case could redefine how AI is trained, regulated, and monetized, especially in the creative industries.

The lawsuit follows recent rulings, including one in California where a judge sided with Meta, highlighting the complex and unsettled legal landscape surrounding generative AI and intellectual property.