Apple AI lawsuit: 70 million YouTube videos allegedly used without permission

Apple is dealing with a lawsuit tied to its AI work, and this time it’s coming straight from content creators. A few YouTubers have accused the company of using their videos to train AI models without asking for permission. Also Read: YouTube tests new features: Auto Speed and On-the-Go mode; Who will get it?

This isn’t just about the features Apple is building. The bigger concern here is how the data behind those features is being sourced. As more companies push AI into their products, the way this data is collected is starting to get more attention. Also Read: Apple iPhone Fold price tipped before launch, could go up to Rs 2.7 lakh

What the creators are saying

The lawsuit has been filed by creators behind channels like h3h3Productions, MrShortGame Golf, and Golfholics. They claim that Apple used their videos without asking, paying, or even giving credit. Also Read: iPhones are the hardest phones to repair right now, says study

According to them, this wasn’t just about using publicly available content. The complaint says Apple may have bypassed YouTube’s protection systems to access and collect videos. That is where the legal angle comes in, since it could fall under violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The creators have also said that their videos appear multiple times in the dataset used for training.

Where this dataset comes in

The case points to something called Panda-70M, which has been mentioned in Apple’s research papers. This dataset reportedly includes millions of video clips taken from YouTube, organised with timestamps and links.

The argument here is simple. To build a dataset like this, someone has to collect and break down those videos at scale. The lawsuit claims this was done without following the platform’s rules.

Apple has acknowledged using such datasets in its research, but hasn’t explained exactly how the data was collected.

Bigger question around AI training

This case is part of a larger pattern. AI models today rely on huge amounts of data, much of which comes from content already available online.

The problem is, just because something is available online doesn’t mean it can be used freely. Creators are now starting to question how their content is being picked up and used, especially when it ends up being part of a commercial product.

The lawsuit also highlights another point. Companies are building features and making money out of them, while the original creators whose content is used don’t really get anything back.

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What happens next

The creators are asking for compensation and also want limits on how their content is used going forward. Apple hasn’t responded in detail so far. The case is still at an early stage, so it may take some time before there is any clear outcome.