A federal judge on Thursday approved a $1.5 billion settlement between artificial intelligence company Anthropic and authors who allege nearly half a million books had been illegally pirated to train chatbots
ByBARBARA ORTUTAY AP technology writer
September 25, 2025, 4: 53 PM
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday approved a $1.5 billion settlement between artificial intelligence company Anthropic and authors who allege nearly half a million books had been illegally pirated to train chatbots.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued the approval in San Francisco federal court Thursday after the two sides worked to address his concerns about the settlement, which will pay authors and publishers about $3,000 for each of the books covered by the agreement. It does not apply to future works.
A Monday filing sought to convince the judge that the parties have set up a system designed to get out robust notice to all authors and publishers covered by the agreement, ensuring they get their cut of the pot if they want to sign off on the settlement or opt out to protect their legal rights moving forward.
They also tried to assure him that the author and publishers group that cobbled the deal together are not doing any “back room” dealings that would hurt lesser-known authors.
Alsup’s ma