Anthropic's $1.5B copyright settlement: What authors should know about the pay-out

Swipe to check out the largest U.S. copyright settlement in history and what you should know as an author (Source: The Authors Guild)

The case of AI companies and pirated books

AI company Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle claims that it downloaded pirated books to train its AI systems.

The class action lawsuit Bartz v Anthropic is one of the major copyright lawsuits brought by authors against an AI company for using books without permission to train large language models.

The settlement does not give Anthropic—or any AI company—permission to use pirated books going forward. It only resolves Anthropic’s liability for its past use of books, and not for any future use. In fact, the agreement states that Anthropic must destroy all copies in its possession.

How much will be paid per title

The $1.5 billion award will be split among the rightsholders of all of the books included in the class after administration and lawyers’ fees and expenses are paid. Only approximately 500,000 titles meet the definition required to be part of the class. That means that approximately $3,000 will be paid out per title.

What authors should do if their books were downloaded

If you believe Anthropic may have downloaded your book(s) from LibGen or PiLiMi, please visit www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com to provide your contact information to Class Counsel.

For more information, you may check updates from The Authors Guild at authorsguild.org.

Final Note

Authors, your work is valuable and must be protected. Always remember that legal clearances, contracts, and protections are crucial factors in the creation and publication of any written work! 

If you have concerns or questions about protecting your creative work, seek out an experienced team like Creative Law Network to keep you on the right page as you build a career in the literary world.