Anthropic will pay $1.5 billion to settle author copyright claims, in the largest case of its kind.
AI firm Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to authors in a class-action lawsuit over the use of copyrighted books to train its models, marking what lawyers say is the largest publicly reported copyright settlement in US history.
The deal, announced Thursday, will provide payouts of about $3,000 per book, with roughly 500,000 works expected to qualify. If claims exceed that number, Anthropic will pay an additional $3,000 per work. The company must also delete original files and copies it used.
“The settlement only releases claims based on past acts – it does not give Anthropic a license or permission for future AI training,” the filing stated.
The agreement follows lawsuits alleging Anthropic relied on pirated books. A hearing is scheduled for September 8th for court approval.
Anthropic said the settlement “will resolve the plaintiffs’ remaining legacy claims” as it continues to pursue safe AI development.