A San Francisco federal judge pressed Anthropic and plaintiffs’ lawyers for more details before granting final approval of a $1.5 billion settlement with authors who allege their books were used to train the Claude AI model.

Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin declined to grant final approval at the hearing and asked for additional information on attorney fees and payments to lead plaintiffs, noting this is the largest U.S. copyright settlement in this area.

The case sits in the broader wave of copyright disputes over training large language models and represents the first major U.S. copyright settlement in this space.

Note: The original reporting comes from The Hindu as of May 15, 2026.

The settlement arrives as Anthropic pursues fundraising and valuation goals, including talks to raise about $30 billion at a $900 billion valuation and a $1.5 billion private-equity pipeline, framing the payout as a one-time charge within its leverage strategy.

More than 25 authors who opted out, including notable figures like Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, have filed a new complaint against Anthropic in California, signaling ongoing litigation despite the settlement.

Separately, additional lawsuits against Anthropic and other tech firms over AI training practices continue even as the settlement moves through final-approval review.

If approved, the settlement would resolve disputes across related cases, while separate actions against Anthropic proceed.

Objections to the deal include concerns that payouts are too small, notice efforts were flawed, and disputes over how shares are allocated when multiple books share a single copyright registration.

Authors and copyright holders claim the settlement covers claims for over 92% of the more than 480,000 works involved, though some argue the deal is insufficient, overbenefits lawyers, or excludes certain owners.

Ongoing scrutiny of the settlement’s terms centers on balancing author compensation with legal costs during the final-approval process.

At the final-approval hearing, lawyers argued that more than 90% of class members support the deal, bolstering its case for approval.