Legal disputes over Google's Gemini AI

In June 2026 Google sued a Chinese cyber‑crime group, Outsider Enterprise, for using its Gemini AI in a phishing kit. Google said the attackers exploited its cloud services and brand, and it is working with the FBI and telecoms to dismantle the operation.

In July 2026 a coalition of major publishers—Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, Elsevier—joined bestselling author Scott Turow and the author‑rights group S.C.R.I.B.E. in filing a class‑action suit in the Southern District of New York (filed July 14). The complaint alleges that Google copied millions of copyrighted books, journal articles and other texts from Google Books, Play Books, Scholar and even scraped pirated sites, then used them without permission to train Gemini. Internal documents reportedly flag a $10‑$100 billion liability and label the training “highly problematic.” Plaintiffs seek statutory damages, a permanent injunction, and destruction of unauthorized copies, warning that Gemini can generate full‑length books at negligible cost, threatening authors’ market share.

Both cases are part of a broader wave of litigation targeting generative‑AI firms after earlier suits against Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic.