Apple is facing a new copyright lawsuit after two authors alleged the company used pirated copies of their books to train its OpenELM AI models. Filed in Northern California, the case claims Apple used the authors' works without permission, payment, or credit.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status, adding Apple to a growing list of technology firms accused of misusing copyrighted works for AI training.

The action comes amid a wider legal storm engulfing AI companies. Anthropic recently agreed to a$1.5 billion settlement with authors who alleged its Claude chatbot was trained on their works without authorisation, in what lawyers called the most significant copyright recovery in history.

Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI also face similar lawsuits over alleged reliance on unlicensed material in their datasets.

Analysts warn Apple could face heightened scrutiny given its reputation as a privacy-focused company. Any finding that its AI models were trained on pirated material could cause serious reputational harm alongside potential financial penalties.

The case also underscores the broader unresolved debate over whether AI training constitutes fair use or unlawful exploitation of creative works.