Anthropic Settles Landmark AI Copyright Case with $1.5 Billion Agreement

Anthropic reaches a $1.5 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the use of copyrighted books to train its AI chatbot, marking the largest copyright recovery to date. The agreement, which includes destroying pirated copies, reflects ongoing debates on AI and copyright in tech sectors.

In a groundbreaking settlement, AI company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to address claims from authors that their books were used without permission to train the chatbot Claude. The resolution marks it as the largest publicly reported copyright recovery, surpassing any previous class action or individual cases.

The controversy surrounding AI's use of copyrighted materials persists, as Anthropic faces potential future infringement claims. However, the company will erase the unauthorized downloaded book copies as part of the settlement, which, notably, does not admit any liability. The lawsuit by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson is part of a larger wave targeting tech giants like OpenAI and Meta.

U.S. District Judge Alsup's earlier ruling acknowledged fair use, but highlighted the problematic storing of pirated books. A trial was initially set for December to quantify damages, which could have soared to billions. The broader debate on AI's use of copyrighted content continues in courts, with significant implications for the tech industry.

(With inputs from agencies.)