Archive · 22 Jul 2026
Bloomsbury to receive millions from AI copyright settlement
Bloomsbury Publishing, the company behind the Harry Potter series, is getting a lot of money from a big settlement with an AI company called Anthropic.
The settlement is about $1.5 billion and is the largest of its kind in the US.
Bloomsbury has over 14,000 books that are part of this settlement, and they will get around $3,000 for each book.
The money will be shared between Bloomsbury and the authors.
This settlement is important because it is one of the first big wins for authors and publishers in the fight over how AI companies use their books to train AI models.
Some AI companies say they can use these books without permission, but authors and publishers say they should pay for using their work.
Bloomsbury is also working on its own AI strategy, allowing some of its books to be used for training AI models with the authors' permission.
Bloomsbury Publishing is set to receive a multimillion-pound payout from a $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement with Anthropic.
The settlement covers 14,087 of Bloomsbury's titles, with proposed compensation of around $3,000 per title.
Payments will be shared equally between Bloomsbury and the respective authors.
The settlement resolves claims that Anthropic used copyrighted books without permission to train its AI models.
The agreement is regarded as the largest known copyright settlement linked to artificial intelligence in the US.
- Who
- Bloomsbury Publishing, Anthropic, Authors
- What
- AI copyright settlement
- When
- Settlement approved on July 21
- Where
- United States
- Why
- To resolve claims that Anthropic used copyrighted books without permission to train its AI models
AI Companies
Authors and Publishers
Use of Copyrighted Material
AI Companies
AI companies argue that using publicly available copyrighted material falls under fair use.
Authors and Publishers
Authors, publishers, and news organizations argue that AI companies should obtain permission or pay license fees before using protected works.
- Settlement Amount
- $1.5 billion (£1.12 billion)
- Number of Titles Covered
- 14,087
- Compensation per Title
- $3,000 (£2,240)
- Total Books Covered
- 482,000
- Percentage of Books Claimed
- 91%
- Expected Payout to Bloomsbury
- £14 million ($19 million)
- Payment Schedule
- Instalments beginning in the second half of the current financial year