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By Blake Brittain (Reuters) -Apple was hit with a lawsuit in California federal court by a pair of neuroscientists who say that the tech company misused thousands of copyrighted books to train its Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence model. Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, professors at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, told the court in a proposed class action on Thursday that Apple used illegal "shadow libraries" of pirated books to train Apple Intelligence. A separate group of authors sued Apple last month for allegedly misusing their work in AI training. TECH COMPANIES FACING LAWSUITS The lawsuit is one of many high-stakes cases brought by copyright owners such as authors, news outlets, and music labels against tech companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, over the unauthorized use of their work in AI training. Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from another group of authors over the training of its AI-powered chatbot Claude in August. Spokespeople for Apple and Martinez-Conde, Macknik, and their attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new complaint on Friday. Apple Intelligence is a suite of AI-powered features integrated into iOS devices, including the iPhone and iPad.  "The day after Apple officially introduced Apple Intelligence, the company gained more than $200 billion in value: 'the single most lucrative day in the history of the company,'" the lawsuit said. According to the complaint, Apple utilized datasets comprising thousands of pirated books as well as other copyright-infringing materials scraped from the internet to train its AI system. The lawsuit said that the pirated books included Martinez-Conde and Macknik's "Champions of Illusion: The Science Behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles" and "Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions." The professors requested an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order for Apple to stop misusing their copyrighted work. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Rod Nickel)

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By Elizabeth Howcroft (Reuters) -Europe's crypto rules do enough to address the risks around stablecoins, the European Commission said on Friday, signalling it does not see the need for major change after the European Central Bank called for more safeguards. Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world currencies – are among the fastest-growing parts of the digital assets industry, with the U.S. this year passing legislation to promote their usage. Europe has launched a landmark set of crypto-specific rules, but lawmakers in Brussels are facing pressure from the ECB to block the so-called "multi-issuance" stablecoin model. ECB CALLS FOR SAFEGUARDS At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether a multinational stablecoin company can treat the tokens it issues within the EU as interchangeable with those held outside the EU. In a letter sent to European Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque on Tuesday, six crypto industry associations, whose members include major stablecoin issuer Circle, called on the EU to publish guidance "confirming multi-issuance in principle" and clarify how it works under the EU's crypto rules, called MiCA. "We believe MiCA provides a robust and proportionate framework for addressing risks stemming from stablecoins," a Commission spokesperson told Reuters in emailed comments, acknowledging receipt of the letter. "The Commission is working towards providing such clarification as soon as possible." The European Systemic Risk Board, headed by ECB President Christine Lagarde, has said that the multi-issuance structure would bring built-in risks for financial stability and called for urgent safeguards. The ECB is concerned that people holding tokens created by a stablecoin's non-EU entity could choose to redeem it with the EU entity, potentially creating a run on reserves held within the EU. But stablecoin issuers say that they can make sure they always have enough reserves to meet redemption requests, wherever they take place. JP Morgan analysts said this week that 99% of stablecoin supply is pegged to the dollar, and that the sector's growth would boost demand for the greenback. (Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft. Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Mark Potter)

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By Elizabeth Howcroft and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) -Ten major banks including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS are jointly exploring issuing a stablecoin, the latest sign of traditional finance seeking to get to grips with the growth of digital assets. The group of lenders, which includes Citi, MUFG, Barclays, TD Bank, Santander and BNP Paribas, will work together to explore creating blockchain-based assets pegged to G7 currencies, the banks said in a statement on Friday. The project, which is in its early stages, will explore whether there is value in issuing assets on public blockchains which are pegged 1:1 to real-world currencies – a type of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins. "The objective of the initiative is to explore whether a new industry-wide offering could bring the benefits of digital assets and enhance competition across the market, while ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements and best practice risk management," the banks said. CRYPTO RALLY, TRUMP AID INTEREST IN STABLECOINS Various banks and other financial institutions have announced plans to look at launching stablecoins, as soaring crypto prices and U.S. President Donald Trump's support for the sector has sparked a revival of interest in the idea of using blockchain in the mainstream financial system. Regulators and financial stability authorities have expressed concern that stablecoins could facilitate the movement of funds outside regulated banking systems, potentially undermining the role of commercial banks in global payment flows. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned UK banks against issuing their own stablecoins, while the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in June that privately issued stablecoins posed risks for monetary policy and financial stability. So far stablecoins have been largely used for moving money between crypto markets, which remain a small part of wider financial markets. Nearly nine-tenths of stablecoin transactions are related to crypto trading while just 6% for actual payment of goods or services, BCG estimated in a report earlier this year. The market is dominated by the El Salvador-based Tether, which accounts for $179 billion of the $310 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation, according to CoinGecko. France's Societe Generale, which was not included in the list, became the first major bank to issue a dollar-backed stablecoin through its digital asset subsidiary earlier this year. The token has not been widely adopted, with just $30.6 million in circulation. RIVAL CONSORTIUM OF BANKS LAUNCHING A EURO STABLECOIN A separate consortium of nine European banks including heavyweights ING and UniCredit, said last month they were forming a new company to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin. Some bank bosses say they see greater promise in the tokenisation of financial assets, in which digital representations of assets such as deposits, stocks and bonds are created and stored on a blockchain. Citi's CEO said in July that tokenised deposits were probably more important than a stablecoin. Many such projects remain in the pilot phase and executives said last year that efforts to tokenise assets were moving more slowly than expected. (Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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