AI startup Anthropic is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging copyright infringement. Filed on Monday in a federal court in San Francisco, the lawsuit accuses Anthropic of “large-scale theft” of copyrighted books to train its popular chatbot, Claude.
Three authors — Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson — are spearheading the lawsuit, claiming that Anthropic “built a multibillion-dollar business by stealing hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books,” including their own works. The plaintiffs allege that Anthropic downloaded pirated versions of their books, made copies, and used them to train their AI models.
This legal action marks the first time authors have targeted Anthropic and its Claude chatbot, although similar lawsuits have been filed against competitors like OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The lawsuit argues that Anthropic’s actions contradict its self-proclaimed image as a responsible and safety-focused AI developer.
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The case follows Anthropic’s recent release of its most powerful AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, in June. It also comes on the heels of another lawsuit filed against Anthropic last October by Universal Music and other music publishers over alleged infringement of song lyrics.
The AI industry is facing increasing scrutiny over copyright issues. News organizations, struggling with declining revenues, are particularly active in protecting their content. The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and several other publications have filed similar lawsuits against AI companies.
However, not all media organizations are taking a confrontational approach. Some, like Condé Nast, Time magazine, and News Corp, have formed partnerships with AI companies like OpenAI, allowing access to their content for AI training purposes.
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