AI company Anthropic has agreed to a $1.5 billion legal settlement with authors and publishers over allegations it illegally downloaded and stored millions of copyrighted books to train its AI models. The agreement, which is the largest payout in U.S. copyright history, covers approximately 500,000 works and designates a payment of $3,000 per work.
This settlement is part of a larger legal trend, with more than 40 lawsuits currently active nationwide between AI developers and copyright holders. Sommige experts suggereren dat de deal een maatstaf zou kunnen zijn voor toekomstige schikkingen, rechterlijke beslissingen of structuren voor licentievergoedingen. Muziekuitgevers houden de uitkomst ook in de gaten in de hoop soortgelijke overeenkomsten voor hun sector te kunnen afsluiten.
However, concerns have been raised that such high settlement costs could create a barrier to entry for smaller AI startups, favoring large, well-funded companies that can afford these payments. For Anthropic, the $1.5 billion figure is relatively small compared to its recent $13 billion fundraising round and its estimated valuation of $183 billion.
Previously, a judge had ruled that Anthropic’s use of copyrighted books for training its AI was “exceedingly transformative” and qualified as fair use. Het omstreden juridische punt bleef de manier waarop het bedrijf het trainingsmateriaal verwierf, te midden van beschuldigingen van het gebruik van illegale kopieën. A judge has postponed the approval of the settlement to conduct a further review, indicating the current agreement may not be finalized in its present form.
