Anthropic has reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by a group of fiction and nonfiction authors, according to a filing Tuesday with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case, Bartz v. Anthropic, centered on the company’s use of books to train its large language models.
Earlier, a lower court ruled that Anthropic’s use of the works qualified as fair use. However, because many of the books were obtained through pirated sources, the company still faced potential financial penalties. The settlement terms have not been disclosed, and Anthropic has not publicly commented on the agreement.
How the Case Developed
The lawsuit gained attention when the court sided with Anthropic’s argument that using books strictly for training models fell under fair use. At the same time, the ruling left Anthropic vulnerable over the issue of pirated material, putting financial damages into play.
Following the June ruling, Anthropic called it a win for AI development, stating that the court recognized the company’s intentions were solely tied to advancing large language models. The settlement now brings an end to the appeal process that had been underway.
Reaction From the Authors’ Side
Lawyers for the plaintiffs welcomed the resolution, calling it an important step for writers who had raised concerns about how their work was being used. “This historic settlement will benefit all class members,” attorney Justin Nelson said in a statement, adding that more details would be shared in the coming weeks.
What The Author Thinks
The Anthropic case shows just how unprepared existing copyright frameworks are for the AI era. Even when courts grant leeway under fair use, the use of pirated materials weakens trust in AI companies and fuels resentment among creators. A settlement may close one chapter, but it doesn’t solve the larger problem: authors feel exploited, and AI firms still lack a clear roadmap for sourcing training data responsibly. Until there’s more transparency and collaboration between the tech industry and creators, these lawsuits will keep resurfacing.
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