A federal judge has given preliminary approval to Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement offer in a class action lawsuit brought by a group of authors, marking the largest publicly reported copyright recovery to date, CNBC reported.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Anthropic illegally downloaded books from pirated sources such as Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror to train its AI systems. Plaintiffs Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson accused the startup of bypassing copyright law to accelerate development.
“We are grateful for the Court’s action today, which brings us one step closer to real accountability for Anthropic and puts all AI companies on notice they can’t shortcut the law or override creators’ rights,” the authors said in a joint statement.
Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and led by CEO Dario Amodei, is valued at $183 billion and is best known for its AI assistant Claude. The company initially proposed the settlement earlier this month, pledging to pay authors roughly $3,000 per book plus interest and to destroy datasets containing pirated material.
Judge William Alsup expressed early reservations about ensuring authors were properly informed but approved the proposal after “several weeks of rigorous assessment and review.” Final approval will depend on completion of the notice and claims processes.
Aparna Sridhar, Anthropic’s deputy general counsel, said the company was pleased with the determination. “The settlement simply resolves narrow claims about how certain materials were obtained,” Sridhar said, adding that the decision allows Anthropic to focus on developing safe AI systems to advance discovery and problem-solving.
The ruling is being closely watched across the AI and publishing industries as a precedent-setting case for copyright in the AI era.
Need Help?
If you’re concerned or have questions about how to navigate the global AI regulatory landscape, don’t hesitate to reach out to BABL AI. Their Audit Experts can offer valuable insight and ensure you’re informed and compliant.
