Anthropic Reaches Settlement in Authors' Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by authors who alleged that the company infringed on their copyrights by using pirated books to train its AI assistant, Claude.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup confirmed that both parties have "negotiated a proposed class settlement," with terms expected to be finalized by September 5.

The lawsuit, initiated by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, accused Anthropic of downloading up to seven million books from pirate websites between 2021 and 2022 to train its AI system, potentially exposing the company to significant damages.

While Judge Alsup previously ruled that Anthropic's use of copyrighted books for AI training constituted "fair use," the company faced trial over allegations of illegally obtaining these materials from online "shadow libraries."

The settlement is described by the authors' attorney, Justin Nelson, as a "historic" outcome beneficial to all class members.

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, had argued that the lawsuit could jeopardize the emerging company.