A judge has approved a $1.5 billion settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors, concluding the largest copyright class-action lawsuit ever certified and the largest settlement of its kind. While some authors initially fought the settlement, arguing for higher payouts and lower lawyer fees, US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín overruled these objections.

The judge emphasized the high participation rate, noting that approximately 91 percent of affected authors and publishers have filed claims. Only 350 class members successfully opted out, with a few others having late or objected requests denied. The settlement offers estimated payouts of $3,000 per work, which the judge deemed four times the minimum statutory damages.

Martínez-Olguín did, however, reduce both the lawyers' fees and the requested service awards for the lead plaintiffs. Lawyers' fees were cut from an initial request of $300 million to about $101 million, and lead plaintiffs' awards were reduced from $50,000 to $15,000.

Anthropic expressed satisfaction with the ruling, highlighting that the case established its AI training as fair use and noting the high claimant rate. The company had actively opposed last-minute opt-out requests to avoid further individual litigation.