Authors Accuse Apple of Using Their Books Without Permission in AI Training

A couple of well-known authors are taking Apple to court, claiming the tech giant used their copyrighted books to train its AI without so much as a heads-up, let alone payment. The lawsuit, filed on September 5, 2025, in a federal court in Northern California, is the latest in a string of legal battles over how big tech companies are building their artificial intelligence tools. It’s a fight that’s got writers, publishers, and artists all asking: where’s the line between innovation and stealing someone’s work?

The plaintiffs are Grady Hendrix, a New York horror novelist behind books like The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and Jennifer Roberson, an Arizona-based fantasy author with a long list of epic series. They say Apple tapped into a shady collection of pirated books to train its “OpenELM” AI models, which power things like a smarter Siri or other on-device features. According to the lawsuit, their books were swept up in this dataset without their consent. “Apple didn’t even try to compensate these authors for using their work in what could be a massive money-maker,” the complaint argues, pointing out how a trillion-dollar company might be shortchanging the very creators whose words it relied on.

This isn’t just Apple’s problem—it’s part of a bigger wave of lawsuits hitting the tech world. On the same day this case dropped, AI startup Anthropic agreed to shell out $1.5 billion to settle with authors who said their books were used to train its Claude chatbot without permission. That settlement, which didn’t admit fault but was called the biggest copyright recovery of its kind, shows just how high the stakes are. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s been hit with a similar suit over its Megatron AI model, and Meta and OpenAI (backed by Microsoft) are also facing claims they misused copyrighted material. It’s starting to feel like every major AI player is getting called out.

So, what’s the deal? Building AI often involves gobbling up huge amounts of text from the internet—books, articles, you name it—to teach models how to think and talk like humans. But when that text is copyrighted, and nobody asked the creators for permission, things get messy. Hendrix and Roberson’s lawsuit says Apple used a known stash of pirated books, which raises some big questions: Is it okay for companies to scrape whatever they find online? Or are they essentially profiting off someone else’s hard work without giving credit where it’s due?

Legal experts think these cases could change how AI is built. If the courts side with the authors, companies like Apple might have to start cutting deals with writers and publishers, which could slow down AI development but make things fairer. Apple hasn’t commented on the lawsuit yet, which isn’t surprising—they tend to play things close to the chest. Still, with their big talk about privacy and ethical tech, it’s a bit awkward to be caught in a scandal about potentially shady data practices.

For authors like Hendrix and Roberson, this feels personal. Writing a book takes years of effort, and seeing it used to fuel a tech giant’s AI without so much as a thank-you stings. As AI keeps popping up everywhere—from chatbots to auto-generated stories—the clash between creators and coders is only getting louder. Should copyright laws get a modern overhaul to keep up with tech? Or will companies find ways to keep pushing the boundaries?

This lawsuit could be a turning point. It’s not just about Apple or these two authors—it’s about the future of creativity in a world where AI is everywhere. Will tech companies start working with writers to fairly license their work, or are we in for years of courtroom drama? Whatever happens, it’s a reminder that behind every clever algorithm, there’s a human story fighting to be heard.