Law Firm Leads 15,000 to Sue Google and Microsoft over AI Data

Manchester-based law firm Barings Law has rallied 15,000 people to sue Google and Microsoft over numerous alleged violations of data misuse.

Following a two-year investigation into Google and Microsoft, the law firm claimed to have found evidence that significant amounts of the data the two tech giants collected were being used in training and developing AI models. These findings were published in late 2024.

Barings Law claimed this data collection is occurring without proper authorisation or consent from users.

The firm noted that while users may understand data is being collected, they may be unaware of the role this data plays in the training of large language models (LLMs).

Other alleged transgressions include collecting information concerning user voices, demographics, time spent on apps, and personal information, including email addresses and the contents of emails.

The firm invited users of Google and Microsoft services, including YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, LinkedIn, OneDrive, Outlook, Microsoft 365 and Xbox, to join the lawsuit.

Adnan Malik, the Head of Data Protection at Barings Law, said in a January 14 public statement he is “pleased to have accumulated such a vast number of sign-ups for this landmark case.”

“The swift response from 15,000 claimants highlights the growing public demand for accountability in the face of persistent data privacy issues and our dedicated team at Barings Law is intent on seeing this demand met.”

“With our history of tackling significant data breach cases, we are committed to challenging the pervasive misuse of personal data by corporations, ensuring that privacy is not sacrificed in the name of technological advancement,” he added.

The Barings Law announcement comes as Microsoft recently announced plans to further enhance its AI development by spending around $80bn on the construction of data centres capable of handling AI workloads.

The law firm is known for handling data breach cases, including the leaking of medical records in the 2022 South Staffs Water hack and the 2023 Capita cyber-attack.