Anthropic Pays $1.5B to Settle Copyright Lawsuit

AI firm Anthropic has agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by authors over the use of copyrighted books to train its AI model, Claude. This marks the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history. While a judge previously ruled Anthropic's use of the books was “exceedingly transformative” and thus fair use, the settlement focuses on the company's acquisition of millions of pirated books from sites like Library Genesis. The settlement avoids a trial where Anthropic faced potential liability for copyright infringement. This landmark case highlights the ongoing legal battles surrounding AI training data and sets a precedent for future AI companies.