A group of YouTube creators has filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc., accusing the company of using their copyrighted videos without permission to train artificial intelligence models used in Snapchat features. The case, filed in a U.S. federal court, adds Snap to a growing number of technology companies facing legal challenges over how they source data for AI development.
The plaintiffs include several well-known YouTubers with millions of combined subscribers. They allege that Snap relied on large video datasets containing their content to train AI systems, despite the videos being protected by copyright and subject to platform restrictions. According to the complaint, these datasets were originally intended for academic research and not for commercial use.
The lawsuit claims that Snap used the trained models to develop and improve generative AI tools within Snapchat, including features that allow users to create or edit images using text prompts. The creators argue that this process involved unauthorized copying and use of their videos, violating U.S. copyright law.
The plaintiffs are seeking financial damages as well as a court order to prevent Snap from continuing to use copyrighted content in AI training without proper authorization. They are also pursuing class-action status on behalf of other creators whose videos may have been included in the datasets.
The case highlights increasing tension between content creators and tech companies as artificial intelligence becomes more widespread. Legal experts say the outcome could have significant implications for how AI models are trained and how copyrighted material is treated in the future. Snap has not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
