A federal judge has granted final approval to a $1.5 billion class action settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors who claimed the firm used their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence models without permission. The settlement represents what the plaintiffs’ legal representatives have characterized as the largest copyright recovery award in history.
The original lawsuit was filed in 2024 by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who accused Anthropic of engaging in what they described as systematic copying practices similar to those that defined the early file-sharing services. A judge granted Anthropic a partial victory in a separate proceeding, though he subsequently approved a class action lawsuit advancing claims that the company had conducted large-scale unauthorized downloading of literary works. Anthropic reached the settlement agreement in September 2025, with preliminary approval granted by the presiding judge at that time.
Under the terms of the settlement, individual authors are entitled to receive approximately $3,000 per book that was allegedly used in Anthropic’s training processes. According to statements from Anthropic’s general counsel, more than 91 percent of the authors and publishers eligible under the settlement have submitted claims and received their compensation. The company indicated its intention to resolve the matter and move forward.
Despite the settlement approval, Anthropic continues to face additional copyright litigation from other parties, including Chicken Soup for the Soul and several individual authors. These remaining plaintiffs have challenged the adequacy of the settlement compensation structure, arguing that the $3,000-per-book amount does not sufficiently address the value of the copyrighted material at issue.