A settlement in principle is expected soon in a class-action lawsuit over Anthropic's AI training data, with a motion for preliminary approval to be filed by September 5. US District Judge William Alsup confirmed the parties believe they have reached agreement. Alsup previously certified a vast copyright class that could include up to seven million claimants based on many books Anthropic may have downloaded to train its models. Industry advocates warned that full participation could financially ruin the AI industry. Court filings say the settlement terms are binding, and a plaintiffs' lawyer said details will be announced in coming weeks.
The settlement announcement comes after Alsup certified what AI industry advocates criticized as the largest copyright class action of all time. Although the lawsuit was raised by three authors-Andrea Bartz, Kirk Wallace Johnson, and Charles Graeber-Alsup allowed up to 7 million claimants to join based on the large number of books that Anthropic may have illegally downloaded to train its AI models.
It's unclear if the class certification prompted the settlement or what terms authors agreed to, but according to court filings, the settlement terms are binding. A lawyer representing authors, Justin A. Nelson, told Ars that more details would be revealed soon, and he confirmed that the suing authors are claiming a win for possibly millions of class members. "This historic settlement will benefit all class members," Nelson said. "We look forward to announcing details of the settlement in the coming weeks."
Authors are celebrating a "historic" settlement expected to be reached soon in a class-action lawsuit over Anthropic's AI training data. If every author in the class filed a claim, industry advocates warned, it would "financially ruin" the entire AI industry. Ars could not immediately reach Anthropic for comment, but Anthropic had previously argued that the lawsuit could doom the emerging company, which was started by former OpenAI employees in 2021.
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