Salesforce faces a proposed class action Salesforce AI lawsuit filed by two novelists who allege the cloud-computing giant used thousands of copyrighted books without permission to train its artificial intelligence models.
Authors Molly Tanzer and Jennifer Gilmore claim Salesforce infringed copyrights by using their written works to develop its xGen AI models for natural language processing. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in federal court, marking the 53rd copyright lawsuit against AI companies.
A Salesforce spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted on Thursday. The case adds to growing legal challenges facing technology companies over their AI training practices. Attorney Joseph Saveri, who represents the authors, emphasized the importance of transparency and fair compensation for content creators whose work powers AI systems.
The Salesforce AI lawsuit alleges that the company used the Books3 dataset, which contains hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books obtained without authors’ permission. Tanzer and Gilmore claim Salesforce downloaded, stored, and copied pirated books to train its xGen language models. The complaint points to evidence that Salesforce’s training data includes works from them and numerous other authors.
Ironically, the Salesforce AI lawsuit highlights statements made by CEO Marc Benioff criticizing other AI companies for using “stolen” training data. Benioff previously stated that paying content creators for their work would be “very easy to do.” The complaint quotes Benioff’s own words, stating that technology companies using intellectual property should fairly compensate copyright holders.
This Salesforce AI lawsuit joins dozens of similar cases filed by authors, news organizations, and other content owners against major tech companies including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms. The legal actions challenge the practice of training AI models on copyrighted material without obtaining licenses. In August 2025, Anthropic reached a landmark $1.5 billion settlement with authors over copyright infringement claims.
The timing of the Salesforce AI lawsuit is notable, coming just days after the company announced expanded partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. Salesforce aims to integrate frontier AI models into its Agentforce 360 platform to deliver enterprise-grade AI tools. The company launched Agentforce 360 globally on October 14, 2025.
Legal experts note that the Salesforce AI lawsuit and similar cases will test fundamental questions about copyright law in the AI era. Courts must determine whether training AI models on copyrighted content constitutes fair use or requires licensing agreements. The outcomes could reshape how AI companies acquire training data and potentially increase development costs.
The Salesforce AI lawsuit seeks class action status, potentially representing thousands of authors whose works may have been used without authorization. Attorney Saveri stated that companies using copyrighted material for AI products must be transparent about their data sources. Fair compensation for creators whose intellectual property powers these systems is essential.
Industry observers view the Salesforce AI lawsuit as part of a broader reckoning over intellectual property rights in artificial intelligence development. As AI models become increasingly sophisticated and commercially valuable, creators are demanding recognition and compensation for their contributions. The resolution of these cases will likely establish important precedents for the AI industry’s relationship with content creators.
The Salesforce AI lawsuit also raises questions about corporate hypocrisy, given Benioff’s public criticism of competitors for similar practices. The complaint specifically references Benioff’s statements to argue that Salesforce should be held to the same standards. This aspect of the case could influence public perception beyond the legal arguments.
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