Authors Say Publishers Want a Cut of Anthropic’s Payout, the NYT Reports
Anthropic is paying $1.5bn to authors whose books it pirated. As the money lands, some of it is going to their publishers instead. The Anthropic settlement has run into contracts written long before AI training existed, and nobody is sure who owned what in 2021.
The Settlement Details
- Total Settlement: $1.5bn for more than 482,000 books.
- Payout Rate: Up to $3,000 per book, approved by a judge in July.
- Class Action Coverage: Covers books downloaded illegally and stored while building Claude.
Split of Payouts
The default split is 50/50, but authors do not keep the full $3,000. They split it with their publishers and co-authors. Publishers were always expected to receive a payout.
Percentage Allocation
- Textbook Authors: Receive as little as 10% to 15% of the total, according to Mary Rasenberger of the Authors Guild.
Two Author Experiences
April Henry: Has written more than 30 books. She found HarperCollins listed as a part-owner of her first book, Circles of Confusion. Her agent confirmed ownership, and she received the full $3,000. However, payments have not started yet.
Amy Lupold Bair: Her publisher is disputing the split, only offering her 10% instead of the expected 50%. She did not name her publisher but listed John Wiley & Sons for two of her titles. Wiley stated it filed claims for all Wiley-published works, with allocations based on individual contracts.
The Determining Factor
The key question beneath both cases is not who owns a book now but who owned it at the time Anthropic downloaded and stored the content.