AI company Anthropic agrees to shell out a record-breaking $1.5 billion to authors, in the costliest copyright settlement in the history of the U.S., for utilizing their work to train its artificial intelligence.
In a significant turn of events, AI company Anthropic has agreed to a settlement of $1.5 billion in a copyright lawsuit involving approximately 500,000 authors. This historic settlement, the largest for any copyright case in U.S. history, comes after Anthropic was found to have illegally downloaded authors' books and used them to train its AI model, a practice ruled as piracy, not fair use.
The lawsuit, filed in August 2024, has been a high-profile issue, with Christian Schertz, a media lawyer, mentioned as involved in the broader issue around Anthropic's training data and copyright claims. The settlement aims to resolve the class action lawsuit before it goes to trial.
Anthropic's use of pirated data sets containing 7 million books led to a series of legal battles. The company's overall value stands at $183 billion, making the settlement a significant portion of its assets. Each affected author will receive a payout of $3,000, a sum that is less than a typical book's advance.
The case follows a similar lawsuit against Meta in June 2024, where authors lost the case but were criticized for not offering enough evidence. Authors have ongoing lawsuits with other AI companies, including Microsoft and OpenAI, indicating a broader concern about the use of copyrighted material in AI training.
Stevie Bonifield, a freelance tech journalist specializing in mobile tech, gaming gear, and accessories, has been covering the developments closely. Outside of writing, Bonifield enjoys indie games, TTRPGs, and building custom keyboards.
It is important to note that the maximum fine per copyrighted work for willful copyright infringement is $150,000, suggesting that Anthropic could have potentially been ordered to pay much more than the settled $1.5 billion had it not settled. This settlement serves as a stark reminder of the importance of respecting copyright laws in the rapidly evolving field of AI.
