In a significant move, a coalition of prominent authors, including Richard Osman, Val McDermid, Kate Mosse, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Sarah Waters, have expressed their concerns through an open letter. This letter, initiated by the Society of Authors (SoA), calls on the UK government to investigate allegations regarding the use of authors’ works by Meta for training its artificial intelligence models without permission or compensation.

Allegations Highlighted by Investigative Report

The open letter is a response to revelations published in the Atlantic magazine on March 20, 2025, under the headline “The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem.” The article outlines serious claims about the methods deployed by Meta during the development of its AI model, known as Llama 3.

As part of its investigation, the Atlantic has made available a searchable database called Library Genesis, or “LibGen,” which includes over 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers—many of which are reportedly pirated materials used in the training of Meta’s AI systems.

Call to Action from UK Authors

In the letter addressed to Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industries, the authors emphasize the gravity of the situation. They state, “The allegations have profound implications for UK authors (including writers, illustrators, translators, scriptwriters, etc.), and we are calling on you and the Labour government to take immediate, decisive action.”

The letter further articulates the collective outrage among authors in the UK following the discovery that their works are included in the LibGen database without their consent. “Authors are rightly concerned that their works have been used without their permission to train Llama 3—a clear infringement of copyright law. Meta must be held accountable and the UK government must play its part,” the letter asserts.