Anthropic's $1.5 Billion Settlement With Authors Nears Final Approval
Anthropic is close to finalizing a $1.5 billion settlement in a copyright lawsuit involving nearly 100,000 authors. The case, Bartz v. Anthropic, alleged that the company used pirated libraries to train its Claude AI chatbot. Authors will receive $3,000 per work, and Anthropic has committed to destroying all pirated copies used in training.
The deadline for authors to file claims is March 30. A federal court hearing on final approval is scheduled for April 23.
What the settlement covers
Anthropic downloaded more than 500,000 copyrighted works from shadow libraries including Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror without authorization, according to the lawsuit. The company has since certified that it no longer uses pirated content in any publicly released Claude models.
Nearly 100,000 claims have already been filed. Less than 0.5% of eligible members opted out of the agreement.
Getting the word out
U.S. District Judge William Alsup initially halted the approval process, concerned that many eligible authors might not know they were entitled to compensation. This prompted a broad outreach campaign across social media, professional networks, and direct mail.
An official settlement website remains active with a searchable database where authors can check whether their books were included in the unauthorized training set.
What writers should do now
Authors have until March 30 to file a claim. If you haven't checked your status, visit the settlement website to search for your works.
For more on how AI affects your work as a writer, see our resources on AI for Writers and AI for Legal.
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