Major tech companies, including Apple and Meta, are facing a class action lawsuit in Chicago over allegations of unauthorized data harvesting for AI voice training.
Nine prominent technology companies are currently embroiled in a federal class action lawsuit in Chicago, accused of unlawfully harvesting user recordings to train artificial intelligence models without obtaining consent. The lawsuit was initiated by a coalition of journalists, podcasters, and audiobook narrators, represented by the law firm Loevy & Loevy, led by attorney Ross Kimbarovsky.
The defendants in this case include industry giants such as Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Samsung. Among the named plaintiffs are notable figures like Chicago journalist Carol Marin, Pulitzer Prize winners Yohance Lacour and Alison Flowers, and award-winning journalist Robin Amer.
Kimbarovsky stated, “They harvested as much information as they could from every source imaginable,” highlighting the extensive nature of the alleged data collection.
This lawsuit could serve as a significant test of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which mandates that companies inform individuals before collecting biometric data and obtain their consent. Under BIPA, companies are also required to disclose how long they will retain the data and to establish a written policy detailing the data’s destruction process. Additionally, the law prohibits the sale of user data.
In 2024, Illinois amended BIPA to reduce penalties following a surge in lawsuits leveraging the law. However, companies still face fines of $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation.
While the current lawsuits do not center on copyright infringement, this issue has emerged as a key point in ongoing legal disputes related to AI training. The plaintiffs contend that the companies have violated privacy, publicity, consumer fraud, and deceptive practice laws by collecting and utilizing biometric information without proper consent and disclosure.
The nine lawsuits are currently assigned to seven different federal judges in Chicago. Apple has requested that the cases be consolidated under a single judge for efficiency. The defense teams comprise lawyers from ten major law firms, including Gibson Dunn for Apple, Greenberg Traurig for Samsung, Jenner & Block for Microsoft, Latham & Watkins for ElevenLabs and Meta Platforms, Morgan Lewis for Amazon, Quinn Emanuel for Alphabet, and Sidley Austin for Adobe.
The defendants argue that the plaintiffs have not sufficiently demonstrated that their recordings were used, suggesting that BIPA may not be applicable in this context. Apple’s legal representatives stated, “They allege only that their recordings are available on the internet; they do not offer any facts to support an inference that Apple used those recordings to train its technology.” Meta also defended its practices, asserting that it provides users with clear information regarding data usage and labeled the plaintiffs’ claims as incorrect.
This lawsuit underscores the ongoing tensions between technological advancement and privacy rights, as companies increasingly rely on vast amounts of user-generated data to enhance their AI capabilities. As the case unfolds, it may set important precedents regarding data privacy and consent in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.
According to The American Bazaar, the implications of this case could reverberate throughout the tech industry, potentially reshaping how companies approach data collection and user consent in the future.