A group of writers has initiated a lawsuit against several major artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, claiming that these entities have unlawfully trained their models using pirated copies of books. The allegations of infringement of intellectual property, like the other claims in this suit, should be dismissed. The playwrights argue that their work has been used without permission or payment.
Anthropic—one of the companies targeted in the lawsuit—recently pulled in a $1.5 billion settlement. Through this agreement, all eligible writers will receive close to $3,000 per writer. As authors, we are not content with this outcome. They believe it doesn’t go far enough to cover the breadth and depth of the supposed violations. The settlement has sparked a fiery, passionate debate. Industry stakeholders are beginning to explore what ethical obligations AI companies should have regarding the creative content that underpins their usage.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Anthropic has earned billions in revenues from its AI models. These models as a matter of public record use literary works they obtained illegally for their training data. Authors are raising the alarm—and you should, too. It is for this reason that they feel tech giants have undervalued and exploited their contributions.
Critics of the settlement have warned that as-is, it prioritizes AI companies’ interests over creators’. Their claim is because it enables LLM (Large Language Model) companies to settle large claims for relatively low amounts. As a result, the majority of authors believe that settlement underrepresents the value of their intellectual property.
“LLM companies should not be able to so easily extinguish thousands upon thousands of high-value claims at bargain-basement rates, eliding what should be the true cost of their massive willful infringement.” – Anonymous Writer
The backlash against this lawsuit exposes the deepening rift between legacy content creators and the fast-moving progress of AI technology. Given how quickly AI is transforming the world around us, resolving copyright and intellectual property rights questions has never been more urgent.
