21-04-2025
Former Waitrose boss says Meta ‘stole' his books to train AI
The former boss of Waitrose is offering to defend any British author whose books may have been used by Meta to train its AI system amid concerns his own titles have been stolen.
Lord Price has written to Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of the social media giant, to threaten legal action after learning that four of his books, including last year's Happy Economics, were harvested in a pirated digital archive allegedly used by Meta to develop its artificial intelligence capabilities.
Price, 64, has accused the business of 'trampling on' intellectual property rights, which he warned would 'chill future innovation and effort'. Meta has denied acting illegally.
In his letter, which was also sent to Sir Keir Starmer, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary,
