In a landmark decision, Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit brought by authors over copyright infringement related to AI training.
Anthropic Settles Authors’ AI Lawsuit for $1.5 Billion
Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion into a class action fund as part of a settlement of litigation brought by a group of book authors.
Largest Copyright Recovery in History
The sum, disclosed in a court filing on Friday, “will be the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history, larger than any other copyright class action settlement or any individual copyright case litigated to final judgment,” the attorneys for the authors wrote.
Settlement Details
The settlement also includes a provision that releases Anthropic only for its conduct up to August 25, meaning that new claims could be filed over future conduct, according to the filing. Anthropic has also agreed to destroy the datasets used in its models.
The settlement figure amounts to about $3,000 per class work, according to the filing.
Upcoming Hearing
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 8.
Settlement in Principle
Last month, Anthropic and the authors’ group announced that they had reached a “settlement in principle” regarding the creators’ lawsuit.
Fair Use Ruling
In June, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that Anthropic’s use of the books in training models was “exceedingly transformative,” a factor used in determining whether the use of protected works without authorization constitutes legal “fair use.” His decision was the first major ruling addressing the fair use question in generative AI systems.
However, Alsup also ruled that Anthropic must face a trial regarding its liability for downloading millions of pirated books from the internet, which was necessary for training its models for the AI service Claude.
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“That Anthropic later bought a copy of a book it earlier stole off the internet will not absolve it of liability for the theft but may affect the extent of statutory damages,” the judge wrote.
Trial Scheduled
A trial in the case was scheduled to start in December.
Commitment to Safe AI
Anthropic’s deputy general counsel, Aparna Sridhar, stated, “In June, the District Court issued a landmark ruling on AI development and copyright law, finding that Anthropic’s approach to training AI models constitutes fair use. Today’s settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs’ remaining legacy claims. We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.”
Ongoing Legal Challenges
Despite the significant payout, Anthropic views the judge’s earlier ruling as a victory, as it determined that their use of copyrighted material in training models was a “fair use.” With Congress unlikely to pass legislation addressing such use, and President Donald Trump siding with tech firms, courts have been left to resolve these disputes.
However, the judge found potential liability in how Anthropic obtained the material for its models by downloading from online libraries, risking prolonged litigation.
Industry Response
The settlement comes as Hollywood studios intensify challenges against the use of intellectual property in AI systems. Recently, Warner Bros. Discovery sued Midjourney, claiming that an AI image-generation service produced AI outputs of characters from Superman to Tweety Bird, joining NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. in seeking court judgments against the company.
The authors’ legal team, led by Justin Nelson of Susman Godfrey, noted that on a “per-work basis, the settlement amount is four times larger than the $750 statutory damages amount that a jury could award and fifteen times larger than the $200 amount if Anthropic were to prevail on its defense of innocent infringement.”
