Anthropic's $1.5b copyright lawsuit settlement approved

US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin has granted final approval to a landmark $1.5 billion settlement between AI company Anthropic and a class of authors. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, accused Anthropic of copyright infringement by using pirated versions of books to train its Claude AI chatbot. While a previous ruling established that training AI on books can constitute fair use, the court found Anthropic violated rights by storing millions of pirated books in a central library.

This settlement is the largest known in a US copyright case. Despite objections from some authors who argued the amount was insufficient, the judge ruled the settlement was a realistic resolution given the risks of trial. The settlement involves a total pool of funds, with over 91 percent of covered authors and publishers having already claimed their share.

While this case marks a major milestone as the first large-scale US copyright settlement involving AI training, it does not resolve all legal challenges. Several authors and publishers have opted out of this settlement to pursue independent lawsuits against Anthropic, which is backed by Amazon and Alphabet.

(Source：The Canberra Times)