Anthropic trained AI models on Dutch bestsellers without authors' permission: Report
American artificial intelligence giant Anthropic allegedly used bestselling works from some of the most critically-acclaimed Dutch authors as part of its process to train the company's large language models. The AI firm did so without the authors' consent by using the content managed by extensive databases of pirated books and written material known as "shadow libraries," according to a report broadcast Wednesday by BNR.
"I think it's decent that they pay for it," said Herman Koch, author of the well-known and widely-translated novel, Het Diner. "You are also not allowed to simply publish a page of Het Diner in the newspaper. It's basically just theft."
The books utilized by the AI platform include Koch's 2009 novel. He said he was far more troubled by the thought of a tech giant's AI model stealing his work than other businesses, such as newspapers. 'We're talking about multi-billion dollar companies here, so then I think, 'Just pay up.'"
Released as The Dinner with English-language text by Sam Garrett, the novel is loosely based on the 2005 murder of a homeless woman in Barcelona. In the work of fiction, two prominent couples believe their sons to be the perpetrators of a violent crime. It has since been translated into dozens of languages, and was adapted for the screen at least four times in four different versions, Dutch, English, Italian, and Korean.
The Anthropic list also included the 1982 classic, De Aanslag, a novel set during and after World War II. Written by the late Harry Mulisch, the book was translated into English by Claire Nicholas White under the title, The Assault. A film adaptation by Fons Rademakers won both the Oscar and Golden Globe in the foreign language film category.
Muslisch's seminal 1992 novel, De Ontdekking van de Hemel, was also on a list of books used by Anthropic. Translated into English by Paul Vincent as The Discovery of Heaven, the story about the post-War generation told through a form of Divine Intervention was adapted for the screen by Jeroen Krabbé, starring Stephen Fry and Flora Montgomery.
The news outlet analyzed the list of material included in court filings as part of a class-action lawsuit brought against Anthropic two years ago. A 1.5-billion dollar settlement was approved by the U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco presiding over the case, one of dozens filed against AI firms alleging misuse of copyright.
The amount, equivalent to about 1.3 billion euros, provides compensation to the authors of about 500,000 works included in the case, with Anthropic agreeing to pay 3,000 dollars for each book it used, or just under 2,650 euros at current exchange rates.
Although Anthropic was accused of pilfering from a collection of millions of books and scientific journals, only a minority of authors may be eligible for compensation as the result of cases filed in the United States. "The difficulty is that you have to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office to even qualify for the settlement," said Dutch authors' association representative Noor van der Heijden to BNR. "You are usually only registered if you have published an English translation of your book on the American market."
"We reached this settlement in 2025, after the court's landmark ruling that training AI on books is fair use under copyright law — which remains the law today," said Anthropic deputy general counsel Aparna Sridhar in a statement released this week. "We are pleased that more than 91% of authors and publishers covered by the settlement have claimed their share of the payment, and we're looking forward to bringing this matter to a close."
Koch told BNR he has yet to hear from his American publisher about the settlement, but he expects to be compensated.
