Judge Approves Anthropic's $1.5 Billion Copyright Settlement; Only 350 Authors Opt Out

A judge has approved a $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and authors, ending the largest copyright class-action ever certified and securing the largest copyright settlement to date. The settlement was proposed after a court ruled that Anthropic's training of AI on books was fair use, though its piracy of works likely was not. Opposing authors argued that lawyers' fees were too high and payouts of roughly $3,000 per work too low, but only 350 authors opted out of the agreement.