Anthropic copyright settlement: $1.5 billion
A judge approved Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors over pirated training data; only 350 authors opted out.
Snapshot · This Week in Tech (Audio)
TWiT 1094: Rest in Peace, Buzzkill - How John C. Dvorak Changed Tech Journalism Forever
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Jul 27, 2026
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Anthropic's $1.5B Copyright Settlement and AI Training Data
At 2:04:00 · chapter starts 2:00:50
Leo explains that the bulk of the infringement claims against Anthropic were deemed fair use by the judge — it was specifically the pirated database that triggered the settlement. Authors receive approximately $3,000 per qualifying book, with splits going to publishers and co-authors. Leo notes two of his thirteen books were in the database — not the bestsellers — and he doesn't mind, since it gives old titles new relevance. Larry is less certain any of his twelve books were there. The philosophical debate about whether AI learning from books differs from human learning remains unresolved.
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