Major book publisher Hachette Book Group, bestselling author Scott Turow, educational publisher Cengage Learning, and scientific publisher Elsevier filed a lawsuit against Google on Friday, accusing the tech giant of using millions of copyrighted books and journal articles without permission to build its Gemini artificial intelligence models. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims Google copied works from sources including Google Books, online libraries, and allegedly pirated websites without paying or obtaining permission. The complaint states Google abandoned its early motto of "Don't be evil," accusing the company of "one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history." The plaintiffs argue Google built a multibillion-dollar AI business by bypassing a market where AI companies pay publishers to license content for training, and that Gemini now competes directly with the books by generating summaries and textbook-style explanations that could reduce demand for original materials. The publishers seek damages and a court order preventing Google from continuing the alleged infringement. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.