A group of YouTubers who are suing tech giants for scraping their videos without permission to train AI models has now added Snap to their list of defendants. The plaintiffs — internet content creators behind a trio of YouTube channels with roughly 6.2 million collective subscribers — allege that Snap has trained its AI systems on their video content for use in AI features like the app’s “Imagine Lens,” which allows users to edit images using text prompts.
The suit is seeking statutory damages and a permanent injunction to stop the alleged copyright infringement going forward.
The case itself is being led by the creators behind theh3h3YouTube channel, with 5.52 million subscribers, and the smaller golfing channels MrShortGame Golf and Golfoholics.
It’s nowone of many lawsuits pitting content creatorsagainst AI model providers, which have included copyright disputes frompublishers,authors,newspapers,user-generated content sites,artists, andmore. It’s alsonot the firstcase to hail from aYouTuber. According to the non-profit organization Copyright Alliance,over 70 copyright infringement caseshave been filed against AI companies.
In some cases, like one betweenMeta and a group of authors, a judge has ruled in favor of the tech giant. In others, like the case betweenAnthropic and a group of authors, the AI giant has settled with and paid out the plaintiffs to resolve their claims. Many cases are still in active litigation.
Snap was asked for comment. TechCrunch will update if one is provided.
Source: Techcrunch
