Judge: Anthropic's $1.5B settlement is being shoved "down the throat of authors"

"Instead, critics fear Anthropic will get off cheaply, striking a deal with authors suing that covers less than 500,000 works and paying a small fraction of its total valuation (currently $183 billion) to get away with the massive theft. Defector noted that the settlement doesn't even require Anthropic to admit wrongdoing, while the company continues raising billions based on models trained on authors' works."

"In an order, Alsup clarified why he thought the proposed settlement was a chaotic mess. The judge said he was "disappointed that counsel have left important questions to be answered in the future," seeking approval for the settlement despite the Works List, the Class List, the Claim Form, and the process for notification, allocation, and dispute resolution all remaining unresolved. Alsup expressed grave concerns that lawyers rushed the deal, which he said now risks being shoved "down the throat of authors," Bloomberg Law reported."

A proposed $1.5 billion settlement would resolve claims that Anthropic illegally downloaded millions of books to train AI models. The certified class could have included up to seven million claimants and potentially more than $1 trillion in damages, but the settlement covers fewer than 500,000 works and represents a small portion of Anthropic's valuation. The agreement does not require an admission of wrongdoing and leaves key elements unresolved, including the Works List, Class List, Claim Form, notification, allocation, and dispute-resolution processes. The judge refused preliminary approval and demanded substantial recalibration and clarification before moving forward.

Read at Ars Technica