Overview

• Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement that would pay roughly $3,000 per title to about 500,000 authors, subject to Judge William Alsup’s approval.
• The company would delete works acquired from shadow libraries, including Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror.
• Alsup previously described model training on books as extremely transformative under the law while finding Anthropic obtained millions of works unlawfully.
• The court noted exposure to statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, with the potential for a judgment far exceeding the settlement.
• Anthropic issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to safe AI, as lawyers and analysts say the case is likely to push the industry toward licensing and stricter data sourcing.