Judge Approves $1.5B Anthropic Settlement Over Pirated Books Used to Train Claude
Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude
A federal judge has officially approved a massive $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and authors regarding the use of pirated books to train the Claude AI model. This landmark agreement resolves a significant copyright dispute without admitting liability, setting a potentially costly precedent for how artificial intelligence companies handle intellectual property in their training data.
This settlement represents a pivotal moment where the cost of using unlicensed creative works to build artificial intelligence has finally been quantified in the billions.
- sashank_1509
A one time payment like 1.5B doesn’t do anything. There needs to be a royalty payment based on if the AI regurgitates existing ideas. That is probably the correct way to legislate this. If anything a human does can instantly be copied by an LLM, and then sent to all its subscribers, things need to change
- ilamont
If you have the time, read the judge's response to the motion:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.43...
The big deal for publishers and authors is the payout per eligible title is $3k. For a traditional publishing contract involving one author, the amount will be split down the middle.
The other thing which caught my eye is the judge slashed the class counsel's fee by half, from 12.5% ($187.5m) to 6.8% ($101m). The class counsel's unreimbursed litigation expenses were $2.6m.
The three class representatives get just $15k each.
- cultofmetatron
I do recall that a "famous redditor" was driven to suicide for making works available and he wasn't even making money for it.
- driverdan
Judge Alsup issued the original order that determined they were liable for piracy but that training LLMs on books was fair use. It's worth reading if you're interested in the topic. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69058235/231/bartz-v-an...
- theplumber
But why not jail like Kim Dotcom? And why no Feds jumping on Dario’s window? They are not only pirating, they also resell it!
- blackqueeriroh
For anyone who thinks the problem is Anthropic, I want you all to know that most authors make less than the median income. Most make less than $20,000 a year, because publishing houses give authors an advance, and then authors must pay back that entire advance in sales before they see a dollar of profit from their work.
Most never do.
Maybe publishers should JUST pay authors WELL, and get a book every 2-3 years.
https://authorsguild.org/news/key-takeaways-from-2023-author...
- doitright99
If a person did this, this person would go to jail. If a company does it? Small fine and the green light to cannibalize more content. Funny how that works.
- jdlshore
To be clear, the issue is not that the books were used to train Claude, but that they were pirated.
- BloodyIron
Did someone forget to consult with the MPAA and the RIAA on this one? This is a joke of an outcome. $3k per book. How much was it per song for Napster?
- basilgohar
Is anyone else having mixed feelings about AI companies' special-casing themselves being a potentially new avenue to review copyright and IP law in the first place? Am I naïve for being hopeful that IP law may become a little more lax now that AI companies are opening a front for potential reevaluation?
Edited for slight typo.