“In every single case, they used them without my permission.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
Meta used all of Marcus's works in the database without his permission.
Assessment: Unresolved Evidence as of
Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it
Marcus on AI, Meta pirated at least 101 of my books and articles, and tens of millions of others, paragraph 5.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment marcus-meta-pirated-at-least-101-of-my-books-eccadd-a1
We recorded 4 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2025-03-20. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Observation
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
From the speaker
- In every single case
- they used them
- without my permission
Our interpretation
- 'They' means Meta and 'them' means the Marcus books and scientific articles identified in the preceding LibGen claim.
- In context, 'used' means used for Llama training. Merely appearing in LibGen does not establish that use.
- 'Every single case' covers the whole referenced set, not only some unidentified subset.
- 'Without my permission' means Marcus did not authorize the use, directly or through someone empowered to authorize it for him. Lack of permission does not by itself decide fair use.
- The observation concerns use completed by March 20, 2025. The post supplies no starting date.
Counts as supported if: Records establish that Meta used every work in the identified Marcus set for training by the post date and that Marcus had not authorized any of those uses.
Counts as contradicted if: Reliable records establish at least one work in that set that Meta did not use as claimed, or at least one claimed use that Marcus authorized.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Was it true for the period described?
Outcome: Unresolved
The record was checked, and the evidence available by the cutoff does not settle it.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
The searches did not establish use and permission status for every Marcus work. Contemporaneous Authors Guild guidance explicitly cautioned that Meta's use of every LibGen book was uncertain. That warning limits what catalog membership can prove; it does not show Marcus's statement was false. General evidence about other authors cannot settle his universal claim.
Limitations
- The cited guidance addresses books generally and does not inventory Marcus's scientific articles.
- The Authors Guild is an advocacy organization; its statement is used only to document the acknowledged evidence gap.
- A finding of fair use would not itself establish that Marcus granted permission.
Evidence (1 item)
Context only: The Authors Guild,
whether Meta downloaded and used every book
Why it matters here: The contemporaneous author-advocacy guidance cautions against inferring universal use from database membership. It does not show that any particular Marcus work was excluded or establish permission for any use.
- Publisher
- The Authors Guild
- Kind of source
- Secondary summary
- Describes events of
- Public from
What would settle it
A complete identified work list with training-use records and independent permission evidence for every entry, or one verified counterexample showing authorized use or nonuse.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Marcus on AI, Meta pirated at least 101 of my books and articles, and tens of millions of others
In every single case, they used them without my permission.
- Where
- paragraph 5
- Published
- 2025-03-20
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment marcus-meta-pirated-at-least-101-of-my-books-eccadd-a1: Current. Outcome: Unresolved. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.
About assessment marcus-meta-pirated-at-least-101-of-my-books-eccadd-a1.