Anthropic, the San Francisco–based artificial intelligence startup behind the Claude AI models, has settled a class action lawsuit filed by a group of U.S. authors who accused the company of copyright infringement. The lawsuit, brought by writers Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, claimed Anthropic trained its AI models using an open-source dataset that contained pirated works. In a legal filing, the company confirmed it had negotiated a “proposed class settlement,” avoiding a trial that could have exposed it to penalties worth billions or even more than $1 trillion, according to Wired. Since the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, the settlement was expected to be finalized on September 3, 2025.
The dispute followed a ruling in June 2025 by Judge William Alsup, who determined that training AI models on legally purchased books constitutes fair use but allowed claims involving pirated content to proceed. In July, Judge Alsup approved the class action, which accused Anthropic of “Napster-style downloading of millions of works.” Justin Nelson, an attorney representing the authors, welcomed the agreement, stating, “This historic settlement will benefit all class members.”
