Anthropic reaches a settlement over authors' class-action piracy lawsuit

Anthropic, an AI company, has reached a settlement over a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of authors regarding the use of copyrighted materials to train their artificial intelligence tools. The details of the settlement have not been disclosed, but the authors' lawyer, Justin Nelson, has stated that it will "benefit all class members." The case initially resulted in a mixed ruling, with the judge determining that Anthropic's use of copyrighted materials for training their language models constituted fair use. However, the acquisition of these materials was deemed to be illegal and unpaid, making it available for the authors to pursue as a piracy case. This settlement comes as a relief for Anthropic, as the potential statutory damages for piracy could have amounted to billions of dollars, given the estimated 7 million pirated works. The details of the settlement, including the number of authors who make a claim and the amount Anthropic agreed to pay out, will determine the ultimate outcome for both parties. The case highlights the ongoing legal challenges surrounding the use of copyrighted materials in the development of AI systems, with no clear precedents emerging yet. Anthropic has faced similar legal issues in the past, having been sued by members of the music industry in 2023, and reaching a partial resolution earlier this year.