The entire artificial intelligence industry is facing an existential risk after a U.S. federal court certified the largest copyright infringement class-action lawsuit in history on August 10, 2025. This decision allows a class, potentially comprising up to 7 million authors, artists, and other rights holders, to collectively sue leading AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and others. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants illegally used their copyrighted works (books, articles, images) to train their generative models without permission or compensation. Given that the law provides for damages of up to $150,000 per work, the potential losses could amount to billions of dollars, threatening the financial stability of the entire sector and potentially forcing a revision of the fundamental principles of AI training.
AI Industry Under Threat: Court Certifies Largest Copyright Lawsuit in History
