Andrea Bartz, a best-selling thriller writer, played a key role in the largest copyright settlement in history against AI company Anthropic for illegally using authors’ works to train chatbots.
The New York Times reports that in a landmark case that pitted authors against a tech giant, thriller writer Andrea Bartz emerged as a central figure in securing a $1.5 billion settlement from AI company Anthropic. Bartz, along with fellow writers Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson, served as named plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, representing the authors of approximately half a million books whose copyrights were violated when Anthropic used their works to train its chatbots without permission.
Breitbart News previously reported that the suit had a potential $1 trillion in damages:
The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, centered around claims that Anthropic had pirated their books, along with millions of other copyrighted works, to train its AI systems. While a California district court judge had previously ruled that Anthropic’s use of the books was largely protected under “fair use” laws, the judge also found that the manner in which the company acquired some of the works, through “shadow libraries” like LibGen, constituted copyright infringement.
Under U.S. copyright law, statutory damages for this type of piracy start at $750 per infringed work. With Anthropic’s AI training library thought to contain around 7 million pirated books, the company faced the prospect of over $1 trillion in court-imposed penalties — a sum that would have put almost any company out of business.
Bartz first became aware of the issue in the summer of 2023 when she discovered her own novels had been included in a set of pirated books used by AI companies. Feeling “incredibly violated and upset,” she joined forces with Graeber and Johnson, and the trio found themselves thrust into the heart of a heated legal battle.
As lead plaintiffs, Bartz, Graeber, and Johnson endured invasive discovery processes, lengthy depositions, and the pressure of representing the interests of countless authors and publishers. Despite the challenges, they forged a close bond, serving as a “sanity check” for one another throughout the grueling case.
Under the settlement terms, Anthropic agreed to pay $3,000 per work, with authors and publishers splitting the amount depending on their contracts. The named plaintiffs may receive a service award of up to $50,000 for their efforts, pending a judge’s approval.
While some viewed the outcome as a setback, others, like Mary Rasenberger, chief executive of the Authors Guild, believe the substantial settlement sends a clear message to AI companies that they cannot use pirated works without consequence.
For Bartz, the intense involvement in the case came at a personal cost, causing her to fall behind on her own writing projects. However, she remains committed to the fight, believing it to be crucial for the future of the publishing industry and the ability of authors to continue their craft.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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