Google requests dismissal of AI data scraping class-action suit

Google argued in its motion to dismiss the claims that using publicly available information shared on the internet is not “stealing,” as claimed.

Big Tech player Google is seeking to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit that claims it’s violating the privacy and property rights of millions of internet users by scraping data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Google filed the motion on Oct. 17 in a California District Court, saying it’s necessary to use public data to train its AI chatbots, such as Bard. It argued the claims are based on the false premises that it is “stealing” the information that is publicly shared on the internet.

“Using publicly available information to learn is not stealing. Nor is it an invasion of privacy, conversion, negligence, unfair competition, or copyright infringement.”

Google said such a lawsuit would “take a sledgehammer not just to Google’s services but to the very idea of generative AI.”

The suit was opened against Google in July by eight individuals claiming to represent “millions of class members,” such as internet users and copyright holders.

They claim their privacy and property rights were violated under a Google privacy policy change a week before the suit was filed that allows data scraping for AI training purposes.

Related: Google updates service policies to comply with EU regulations

Google argued the complaint concerns “irrelevant conduct by third parties and doomsday predictions about AI.” 

It said the complaint failed to address any core issues, particularly how the plaintiffs have been harmed by using their information.

This case is one of many that have been brought against tech giants that are developing and training AI systems. On Sept. 20, Meta refuted claims of copyright infringement during the training of its AI.

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