Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been ordered to testify in a copyright lawsuit regarding the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI), Deadline reports.
A federal judge ruled this week that Zuckerberg must answer questions about Meta’s AI initiatives, despite his efforts to avoid deposition.
The lawsuit, filed by authors including Sarah Silverman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Richard Kadrey, and Christopher Golden, accuses Meta of using their copyrighted works without consent to train its AI systems. The authors allege that Meta’s large language model, LLaMA, was developed using material from their books, which were copied without permission or compensation.
US District Judge Thomas Hixson determined that Zuckerberg, as Meta’s chief decision-maker, played a direct role in the company’s AI development and decision to open-source the language model. This involvement makes him a key figure in the case, according to the judge’s ruling.
Meta denies the claims, arguing that the authors’ works were not used to train its AI systems. The company has also contended that other Meta executives are better suited to answer questions in the case. However, Judge Hixson rejected this argument, stating that the evidence points to Zuckerberg’s specific involvement in Meta’s AI efforts.
While a date for Zuckerberg’s deposition has not yet been set, the court ruling clears the way for plaintiffs’ lawyers, including David Boies, to question the Meta CEO.
This case is one of several lawsuits filed against tech companies like Meta and OpenAI, as concerns over the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems continue to grow. As the technology rapidly evolves, it has become a focal point of legal and regulatory debates.
Despite the ongoing legal battle, Zuckerberg appeared at Meta’s Connect conference this week to discuss the company’s AI advancements, including new AI chatbots featuring the voices of celebrities like Awkwafina and John Cena.
Meta has yet to comment on the specifics of the deposition order.
