Three established YouTube channels have filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by improperly accessing and scraping millions of copyrighted YouTube videos to train its artificial intelligence systems.
According to the complaint, Apple is accused of using large volumes of video content without permission to develop and improve its AI models, raising questions about how training data is sourced and whether copyrighted material was used without proper licensing or authorization.
The case adds to the growing wave of legal disputes targeting AI developers over training data practices, particularly around whether publicly accessible online content can be used for machine learning without explicit consent from rights holders.
Apple has not yet publicly responded in detail to the lawsuit.
A new class action lawsuit filed in California federal court alleges that Apple unlawfully used copyrighted YouTube content to train its AI systems.
The complaint was brought by the owners of several established YouTube channels, including h3h3Productions (along with H3 Podcast and H3 Podcast Highlights), MrShortGame Golf, and Golfholics. The plaintiffs claim Apple “deliberately circumvented” YouTube’s protections against scraping and profited from using large volumes of video content without permission.
According to the lawsuit, Apple’s own research publications allegedly indicate that videos from the plaintiffs’ channels were included in datasets used to train its AI models. The creators argue this use of copyrighted material was done without consent or compensation, calling it a significant exploitation of creator content in the rapidly growing generative AI industry.
The filing seeks both damages and an injunction on behalf of the named creators and other similarly affected content owners in the United States.
This case is part of a broader wave of legal action by the same group of creators, who have also filed similar lawsuits against other major tech companies, including Meta, Nvidia, ByteDance, and Snap.
The plaintiffs include the well-known channel h3h3Productions, run by Ethan Klein and Hila Klein, which has millions of subscribers, alongside MrShortGame Golf and Golfholics, both of which also have large followings in the golf content space.