$1.5B Settlement, Millions of Books Destroyed: Key Summary
- Anthropic purchased millions of books for Claude training, cut and scanned them, then disposed of them
- Internal document: “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world”
- $1.5 billion settlement pays authors approximately $3,000 per book
What Happened?
Over 4,000 pages of court documents were released, exposing Anthropic’s secret project. Codename: “Project Panama.” The internal planning document stated: “Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world.”[Washington Post]
Here’s how it worked. They bulk-purchased books from used bookstores like Better World Books and World of Books. They cleanly sliced off the spines using “guillotine cutters.” High-speed, high-quality scanners digitized every page. Recycling companies then collected the remains.[Techmeme]
Tom Turvey led the project. He’s a former Google executive who created the Google Books project 20 years ago. In about a year, Anthropic invested millions of dollars to acquire and scan millions of books.[Futurism]
Why Does This Matter?
Frankly, this reveals the desperation of acquiring AI training data.
Why did Anthropic choose this approach? First, to avoid illegal download risks. Second, buying used books and doing whatever you want with them is likely legal under the “first-sale doctrine.” The judge actually ruled that this scanning method itself qualifies as fair use.[CNBC]
But there was a problem. Before Project Panama, Anthropic had downloaded over 7 million books for free from illegal sites like Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror. The judge determined this portion likely constitutes copyright infringement.[NPR]
Personally, I think this is the key issue. The problem wasn’t the “legal” book scanning—it was that they had already done illegal downloads before that. Anthropic knew this too—internal documents stated “we don’t want this work to become known.”
What Happens Next?
The $1.5 billion settlement is the largest in AI copyright dispute history. For an estimated 500,000 books, authors receive about $3,000 per title.[PBS]
This precedent will significantly impact other AI companies. OpenAI, Google, and Meta all face similar lawsuits. The standard is now clear: “Buying and scanning books is fine, but illegal downloads are not.”
Anthropic is also facing a music copyright lawsuit. A separate case filed in January claims music publishers allege Claude 4.5 was trained to “memorize” their works.[IP Watchdog]
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: How many books were actually destroyed in Project Panama?
A: According to court documents, up to 2 million books were targeted for “destructive scanning.” Anthropic purchased books in batches of tens of thousands from used bookstores like Better World Books and World of Books, and over about a year, invested millions of dollars to process millions of books.
Q: How much will authors receive?
A: The $1.5 billion settlement applies to approximately 500,000 books. That’s about $3,000 per title. Authors of illegally downloaded books are eligible to file claims, and once the settlement receives court approval, they can file individually. However, if not all authors file claims, the actual amount received could be higher.
Q: Is buying and scanning books legal?
A: The judge ruled this method qualifies as fair use. Under the “first-sale doctrine,” you can do whatever you want with a book you’ve purchased. However, what got Anthropic in trouble was downloading books from illegal sites before Project Panama. Scanning legitimately purchased books is currently legal.
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References
- Anthropic ‘destructively’ scanned millions of books to build Claude – Washington Post (2026-01-27)
- Anthropic Knew the Public Would Be Disgusted – Futurism (2026-01-28)
- Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion in settlement – NPR (2025-09-05)
- Millions of books died so Claude could live – The Verge (2026-02-03)