Anthropic faces Reddit lawsuit over unauthorized data use

The legal battle over AI training data has reached a new front as Reddit challenges Anthropic‘s data practices in court, marking another significant clash between content platforms and AI companies over intellectual property rights. This lawsuit highlights the growing tension between social media platforms seeking to monetize their content and AI companies that need vast amounts of training data to develop their models.

The big picture: Reddit has filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic, accusing the Claude chatbot maker of scraping and using Reddit’s content for training without permission despite public assurances it wouldn’t do so.

• The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges Anthropic has resisted entering a licensing agreement while training its Claude chatbot on Reddit content.
• Reddit claims Anthropic’s bots have accessed or attempted to access its content more than 100,000 times, contradicting Anthropic’s July 2023 assurance that it had blocked its bots from accessing the platform.

What they’re saying: Reddit’s Chief Legal Officer Ben Lee emphasized the need for boundaries in the AI ecosystem despite supporting open internet principles.

• “We believe in an open internet,” Lee stated, while adding that AI companies need “clear limitations” on how they use scraped content.
• Anthropic has contested the allegations, with a spokesperson stating: “We disagree with Reddit’s claims and will defend ourselves vigorously.”

Key details: Reddit’s lawsuit claims Anthropic has styled itself as an AI “white knight” committed to trust and honesty while allegedly violating Reddit’s user policies.

• The social media platform quoted Claude admitting it was “trained on at least some Reddit data” and acknowledging uncertainty about whether that content was deleted.
• Reddit noted that competitors like Google and OpenAI have established licensing agreements, while Anthropic has refused to “respect Reddit’s guardrails.”

Behind the numbers: Anthropic has reached $3 billion in annualized revenue according to sources familiar with the matter, recently launching its newest Claude models, Opus 4 and Sonnet 4, on May 22.

• The lawsuit alleges Anthropic has “enriched itself to the tune of tens of billions of dollars” through its unauthorized use of scraped content.
• Reddit is seeking unspecified restitution, punitive damages, and an injunction to prevent Anthropic from using its content for commercial purposes.

Why this matters: The case represents the latest in a growing number of legal challenges over AI companies’ use of third-party content for training, highlighting unresolved questions about intellectual property rights in the AI era.

• Anthropic has significant backing from major tech companies, including Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, raising the stakes of this legal confrontation.
• The outcome could influence how AI companies approach data licensing and content agreements with major platforms going forward.