US District Judge William Alsup has rejected preliminary approval of Anthropic’s proposed $1.5 billion settlement in a class action brought by authors alleging the AI company used pirated copies of their books to train its large language models. In a filing released September 8, Alsup said he was ‘disappointed that counsel have left important questions to be answered in the future’ and described the settlement as ‘nowhere close to complete.’ The judge said he had an ‘uneasy feeling about hangers on with all that money on the table’ and warned that class members often ‘get the shaft’ in class actions once the monetary settlement is established.

The rejected deal would have paid roughly $3,000 per work to a class of authors, though the list of covered books — currently around 465,000 works — is not yet final. Alsup demanded a final list of covered works, a list of authors, a notification plan, and a claim form that gives class members a clear choice to opt in or out. He gave the parties until September 15 to submit the works list and set a full hearing for September 25. He also expressed concern about how the settlement would handle works with multiple claimants, asking what would happen if one party wanted to opt out and another did not.

Representatives from the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers pushed back against the judge’s skepticism. Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said the Guild was confused by the suggestion that it was working behind the scenes to pressure authors. AAP CEO Maria Pallante said the court demonstrated a lack of understanding of how the publishing industry works and called the envisioned claims process ‘unworkable.’ The Authors Guild stressed it is a not-for-profit that would not benefit from the settlement beyond fulfilling its mission. If Alsup does not receive satisfactory updates by the deadlines, the case could proceed to a trial scheduled for December 1, 2025.

The rejected deal would have paid roughly $3,000 per work. Around 500,000 authors are involved in the lawsuit, and the list of covered works currently stands around 465,000.