Anthropic's $1.5B Copyright Settlement Approved by Judge

A judge has approved a $1.5 billion settlement between AI firm Anthropic and authors, effectively ending the largest copyright class-action lawsuit ever certified. The agreement also represents the largest financial settlement reached in a copyright case.

The settlement followed a court ruling that Anthropic's use of books to train its AI was considered fair use, though the company's method was found to likely constitute copyright infringement. Some authors had sought to block the deal when it was proposed in May.

Opponents argued that the proposed settlement offered insufficient payouts to authors while providing excessive fees for lawyers. A number of authors attempted to opt out past the deadline—seeking potentially higher damages through individual lawsuits rather than accepting the estimated $3,000 payout per work.

Ultimately, only 350 authors opted out of the settlement. The approval is expected to resolve a significant legal dispute at the intersection of artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights.