> With those numbers, there can be sound financial reasons for wanting to just get rid of the lawsuit.

Yes, of course, on Anthropic's side. Why would the other side agree to a settlement?

Perhaps Anthropic is indirectly paying to have their competitors sued...

My narritive is that the terms of the settlement would be full and final.

It was a class action, with payment going to authors and publishers, and the legal team will get paid too.

My guess is that funding is a major issue for the legal team. Authors presumably can't pay for lawyers unless a percentage of winnings, although publishers may have invested.

But the legal team will ask the beneficiaries to use some of the warchest to fund different campaigns against every other AI company. I would assume the legal team wants to win again. They've now got a good story to sell to rights holders, who presumably like money and don't like risks.

I haven't even got to my armchair yet this morning.

Because most authors don't make a ton of money from their books, and even a relatively low settlement from Anthropic is a large enough sum that they're OK with taking it.