Anthropic Consents to Erase Stolen Book Information Utilized in AI Chatbot Claude's Training, Settles Copyright Lawsuit with $1.5 Billion Payment
In a groundbreaking development, San Francisco-based AI startup Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit over allegations that its AI models were trained using pirated books. This settlement, the first of its kind in the AI era, sends a strong message to the industry about the consequences of pirating authors' works.
The lawsuit, filed by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, accused Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, of illegally copying their books. The US District Court Judge William Alsup ruled in June that Anthropic's training of its Claude AI models with books constituted "fair use" under the law, but rejected Anthropic's bid for blanket protection.
Anthropic's practice of downloading millions of pirated books to build a permanent digital library was not justified by fair use protections, the court found. Under the agreement, Anthropic will destroy the original pirated files and any copies derived from them.
The settlement far surpasses any other known copyright recovery. It covers approximately 500,000 books, and the capital raised will be used to expand capacity, deepen safety research, and support international expansion. Anthropic announced this week that it raised $13 billion in a funding round valuing the AI startup at $183 billion.
Anthropic, known for its focus on AI safety and responsible development, competes with generative AI offerings from tech giants like Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft. The company was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives and has grown rapidly since Claude's initial release in early 2023, with its annual revenue rate quintupling to $5 billion since early this year.
The race for generative AI is expected to attract hundreds of billions of dollars in investment over the next few years. Despite this settlement, Anthropic remains a major player in the field, positioning itself as a leader in AI safety and responsible development.
While the authors who filed the complaints against Anthropic for allegedly using pirated books to train their AI models are not publicly disclosed, the settlement sends a clear message to the industry about the importance of respecting intellectual property rights. As the AI industry continues to grow, it is crucial that companies prioritise ethical practices and uphold the rights of creators.
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