15-04-2025
Canadian authors slam Meta for training AI using 'hugely problematic' program that pirates books: 'We're just "the little guys"'
When The Atlantic revealed that Meta had used millions of books and scientific papers scraped from LibGen — a notorious online repository of pirated books and articles — to train its AI models, the fallout rippled through the literary community. For Canadian authors, the revelation struck a particularly deep chord, as many discovered their copyrighted works were being used without consent or credit — or compensation.
'I found out about The Atlantic article on [social media app] Threads from other authors who were just beginning to learn about the incident,' says K.A. Riley, a Toronto-based author of young adult fiction. 'Twenty-one of my novels from several different series appeared in the database.' (She declined to share which of her books were pirated to avoid violating exclusivity with an Amazon partnership.)
LibGen, long criticized for offering free and unauthorized access to books and academic materials, has been a controversial resource for years. But its use as a dataset by one of the world's most powerful tech companies has escalated the issue from piracy to a question of corporate ethics — and legality.
'It's extraordinary,' Riley says. 'A company valued at $1.3 trillion chose to download pirated books to train its AI systems rather than, at the very least, offer licensing payments to authors.'
For many writers, the news felt like a gut punch — not only because of the theft, but because of what it signals for the future of the literary industry. Authors can spend months, sometimes years, crafting a single work. The idea that these labours of love could be absorbed into an AI model without permission and little recourse raises alarm bells.
A company valued at $1.3 trillion chose to download pirated books to train its AI systems rather than, at the very least, offer licensing payments to authors.
'Generative AI being used to 'write' books is a problem,' Riley adds. 'Every word and nuance drafted by AI is something stolen from a multitude of authors and regurgitated. If that tool requires theft of 7.5 million novels and the erasure of the years it takes most authors to hone their craft, then I have no interest in it.'
Heather Grace Stewart, an author and screenwriter based in Québec, also discovered her work had been scraped after The Atlantic article was published, including the novel The Ticket, and screenplays The Friends I've Never Met and Best Before. She says, simply, 'It makes me livid.'
For her, the theft is personal. Her screenplays aren't just intellectual property, they represent turning points in her career. She says, 'TFINM is close to my heart because it was inspired by meeting screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and several other talented writers. I was encouraged to become a full-time novelist after creating that screenplay.'
The implications go beyond individual careers. 'Meta is treating rights holders like garbage,' Stewart says. 'Not like the unique voices that we are, the voices that enrich our world. Creators like me deserve respect and fair compensation for the [time] we spend crafting our novels.'
Although a class-action lawsuit is in the works in the U.S., there are no such plans as of yet in Canada. Both authors are exploring their options and agree that action is needed — legally and ethically. Riley has joined the Writers Guild of Canada for legal advice and plans to consult her lawyer. Stewart has filed a complaint with the organization and is in touch with The Writers' Union of Canada (TWUC), too, to explore a national claim. But neither is optimistic.
'We won't get compensation for this breach anytime soon,' Stewart says. 'I'm not in denial about the scale of this problem, and how we are just 'the little guys.''
The controversy comes amid growing tensions between writers and artists and the tech world, with many viewing stolen content to power new technologies as an insidious trend.
'The entire fiasco is hugely problematic for the literary world,' says Riley. 'Piracy sites exist because many people are convinced books should be free. The problem is, for many of us, writing is our full-time living. There is little stopping people from producing work via generative A.I. and publishing it. The problem is separating human-made from machine-generated work. Until legislation is firmly in place, the book world will be flooded with A.I. 'works.''
For now, Stewart has added a copyright disclaimer to her new books. And Riley hopes to see Meta settle with authors, companies labelling AI-generated content, and she proposes a general challenge: 'I'd like to see companies admit that they cannot exist without the theft of human work. And that that in itself is highly problematic.'
'Creators create,' she says. 'We always will. But this blurring of lines between human and machine is a slippery slope. There is intrinsic value in humanity and its various forms of expression. I intend to cling to the human-generated wonders as long as I can.'
