Major Publishers Sue Google Over Alleged Use of Copyrighted Books to Train Gemini AI

Major publishers have sued Google, alleging Gemini AI was trained using copyrighted books without permission, raising fresh concerns over AI and copyright law.
on Jul 16, 2026

Major Publishers Take Legal Action Against Google; Accusing It of Training AI Model Gemini on Copyrighted Books

Major publishers have initiated a legal proceeding against Google, in which they accuse the tech company of using copyrighted books without authorization to train its AI model, Gemini. In addition to this, publishers say that copyrighted books worth millions were illegally used and incorporated in AI datasets for their training.

Seeking Legal Action for Accountability

In the lawsuit filed by the publishers before a US federal court, it was alleged that AI models of Google were trained on copyrighted literary works without any license and compensation. As per publishers, such unauthorized use of copyrighted books has the ability to affect the entire publishing industry, as AI is capable of producing content based on these copyrighted works.

Building Conflict Between AI and Copyrights

This case continues to become the new one among a number of other legal disputes that AI firms face when using copyrighted content. Many authors, artists, musicians, and media organizations have started wondering if their copyrighted material can be used to train AI without obtaining any consent from their side or making a payment.

Publishers believe that while AI is able to change industries, its development should not violate intellectual property rights.

Google Has Not Responded to the Allegations in Court

Google has not provided a formal response to the allegations of the lawsuit in court. Google always used to state that the training of AI models falls into the scope of such concepts as fair use, and that the existence of generative AI and creative industry is compatible.