Michelle ThompsonAI company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion (£1.11bn) to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by authors who claimed the firm used their work without permission to train its AI models.
The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, would be the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history, according to the authors’ attorneys.
The case follows Judge Alsup’s earlier ruling that using books to train AI does not violate U.S. copyright law, though he allowed the authors’ claims regarding pirated material to proceed to trial. Anthropic said the deal would resolve the plaintiffs’ “remaining legacy claims.”
The settlement comes amid similar lawsuits facing major tech companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta, over alleged copyright violations linked to AI training.
Anthropic, known for its Claude chatbot, positions itself as a more ethical alternative in the AI industry. Aparna Sridhar, the company’s Deputy General Counsel, said, “We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.” The company is backed by Amazon and Alphabet, Google’s parent firm.
The lawsuit, filed last year by authors including Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, alleged that Anthropic used their works to train Claude and generate profits. Judge Alsup previously noted that Anthropic had a library of more than seven million books, some allegedly pirated, and faced potential damages of up to $150,000 per work.
The judge described Anthropic’s use of the authors’ books as “exceedingly transformative” under U.S. law, allowing it in principle, but denied the company’s request to dismiss the case. Anthropic had been scheduled for trial in December.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers hailed the settlement as “the first of its kind in the AI era,” emphasizing that it compensates creators and sets a precedent for AI companies. Justin Nelson, representing the authors, said, “This settlement sends a powerful message to AI companies and creators alike that taking copyrighted works from pirate websites is wrong.”
Experts suggest the agreement could encourage closer collaboration between AI developers and content creators. Alex Yang, Professor of Management Science and Operations at London Business School, noted, “You need that fresh training data from human beings. If you want to grant more copyright to AI-created content, you must also strengthen mechanisms that compensate humans for their original contributions.”
Emily Martinez
