Steve Ruiz alleges AI firms scraped tldraw without consent

Steve Ruiz, founder of the open-source whiteboard tool tldraw, alleged on August 29 that multiple AI companies scraped proprietary diagram datasets from his platform without authorization. Ruiz stated in a published article that this unauthorized data collection violates tldraw’s terms of service and undermines the sustainability of open-source developer tools. He did not name specific companies but described systematic scraping patterns consistent with large-scale model training pipelines. The allegation adds to mounting industry disputes over whether publicly accessible software outputs constitute fair use for AI training. Legal experts note that terms-of-service violations alone rarely establish copyright infringement, though they may support contractual claims. Ruiz called for new technical and legal standards to protect creator-controlled datasets. Neither tldraw nor any accused AI firm has confirmed litigation plans as of the publication date. The claim remains unverified by independent third parties.