Authors Hit Salesforce Copyright Class Action For Training AI On "Shadow Library" Data

A few months back, a group of authors filed a class action lawsuit against Salesforce in federal court in the Northern District of California, alleging that the company used pirated copies of copyrighted books to train its large language models and power commercial AI products, including Agentforce. The complaint highlights a growing legal risk for companies developing or deploying generative AI: decisions about training data sources can carry significant legal and business consequences.

For business leaders, the case underscores a central point. Intellectual property law still applies, even when innovation moves faster than regulation.

What the Lawsuit Claims

The plaintiff, author Tasha Alexander, alleges that Salesforce willfully infringed registered copyrights by downloading, copying, storing, and using books to train its CodeGen and xGen series models. According to the Complaint, Salesforce relied on datasets that included "shadow library" material, such as