Overview

• Proposed settlement covers roughly 500,000 works at about $3,000 per book, with staged payments that include $300 million due shortly after court approval.
• The agreement includes no admission of liability and does not set precedent, though legal experts say the payout could influence other AI copyright negotiations.
• Judge William Alsup previously ruled that training on lawfully obtained books could be fair use but found Anthropic had unlawfully downloaded more than 7 million pirated books.
• The pirated sources identified in court included Books3, Library Genesis (LibGen), and Pirate Library Mirror, and the deal requires destroying those downloaded copies.
• The Sept. 8 hearing in San Francisco federal court is for preliminary approval, averting a December damages trial if the settlement proceeds.