AI Settlement: Anthropic Agrees to $1.5 Billion Payment Over Copyright Infringement

In a landmark decision, Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by authors who accused the company of infringing upon their copyrights by using their books to train its AI chatbot, Claude. The agreement, which was announced in August, has now been submitted to U.S. District Judge William Alsup for approval.

This settlement is the first of many facing AI companies over the use of copyrighted materials to train AI models. As part of the agreement, Anthropic will destroy copies of books previously accused of being pirated, although it may still face claims related to content generated by its AI models.

The fund established for the settlement will provide $3,000 for each of the 500,000 downloaded books in question, with potential for growth if more works are identified. The case highlights the ongoing legal debate around the fair use of copyrighted material in AI training, setting a significant precedent in the industry.

(With inputs from agencies.)