Federal judge approves Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors

A federal judge approved Anthropic’s $1.5 billion class action settlement with authors who accused the company of training its AI models on copyrighted books without permission. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court signed off on the agreement, calling it a source of "meaningful relief" for authors. The settlement includes payments of around $3,000 for each book allegedly used without authorization.

The agreement is described by the plaintiffs’ law firm as the "largest known copyright recovery in history." More than 91% of the authors and publishers covered by the settlement have already claimed their share of the payment, according to Anthropic general counsel Aparna Sridhar.

The litigation traces back to a 2024 lawsuit filed by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson. While a separate class action lawsuit was granted preliminary approval, Anthropic is still facing ongoing copyright lawsuits from other parties, including Chicken Soup for the Soul, which argue that the $3,000 per book payment is insufficient.