Anthropic just won a big legal battle over AI training data. A San Francisco federal judge ruled Monday that Anthropic’s use of books without permission to train its AI is legal under U.S. copyright law.
The issue started when authors and publishers sued Anthropic for using their books without licensing. They argued this was copyright infringement. But the court disagreed, siding with Anthropic.
This ruling could reshape how AI companies handle copyrighted material for training. It’s a win for developers arguing that unlicensed use falls under fair use or similar exceptions. 
Authors and publishers won’t be happy. They see this as a blow to their control and income from creative works.
The case marks another major copyright showdown in the AI space after other lawsuits aimed at OpenAI, Google, and more. The debate over AI training data is far from over.
But for now, Anthropic gets the green light to keep using copyrighted books in its training mix without paying royalties or seeking permission.
No word yet if the plaintiffs plan to appeal.
