A federal judge in San Francisco has granted final approval for a $1.5 billion settlement involving Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, in a class action lawsuit initiated by a group of authors. The lawsuit alleged that Anthropic improperly utilized their books to train its AI chatbot, Claude.
District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin dismissed objections to the settlement, stating that criticisms regarding its size were unfounded. This case marks the largest known settlement in a U.S. copyright dispute and is particularly noteworthy as it is the first major case of its kind to reach a settlement in the ongoing conflict between copyright owners and tech companies regarding AI training.
The lawsuit was filed in 2024, accusing Anthropic, which is supported by Amazon and Alphabet, of using unauthorized copies of authors’ books to enhance the chatbot’s responses. Although a prior ruling by now-retired Judge William Alsup acknowledged fair use in some respects, it found that Anthropic violated copyright by storing over 7 million unauthorized works in a “central library.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Justin Nelson, expressed satisfaction with the court’s ruling and indicated intentions to expedite payments to authors involved in the settlement. Despite the settlement’s approval, some authors have criticized its adequacy, arguing it does not sufficiently compensate them and raises concerns about legal representation.
Judge Martinez-Olguin reaffirmed her support for the settlement, countering claims of inadequate compensation and awarding attorneys a significant portion of the requested fees. Meanwhile, several authors and publishers have chosen to pursue separate lawsuits against Anthropic.
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