According to MSN, GenAI developer Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the firm pirated thousands of copyrighted works to train its large language model Claude.
In June, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that Anthropic was within its “fair use” rights to use legally acquired works to train its LLM, because the platform transformed the material into “something new.” However, Alsup also found Anthropic liable for its improper use of millions of pirated ebooks.
According to attorneys for both sides, a preliminary settlement has been reached. Details have not been disclosed but reports suggest a $1.5 billion settlement covering about 500,000 pirated works is on the line. Anthropic would also be required to destroy any pirated materials that had been used to train its LLM, essentially closing the barn door after the horse has been stolen and eaten.
Anthropic’s latest round of fundraising brought in $13 billion. The company is valued at $183 billion, three times its reported value as recently as last March, suggesting investors were not scared off by the lawsuit, but rather consider it a cost of doing business.
How the settlement will influence other pending litigation remains to be seen.