The AI plot to scan and destroy books (Lock and Code S07E19)
Brief
This week on the Lock and Code podcast…
If you want AI to tell you a story, it will. If you want that story to sound like one of your favorite authors, it can. And if you’re one of the authors that AI can imitate, you might be a little upset at what feels like theft.
In 2024, the authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic, the creator of Claude, alleging that the company had wrongfully digested millions of copyrighted works—including some of their very own—to train its AI models. The lawsuit grew to include more than 300,000 writers, and in September 2025, Anthropic agreed to pay $1. 5 billion to settle the claims .
That headline-worthy payout, however, would eventually be paired with more startling news.
In January 2026, a district court judge unsealed thousands of documents related to the litigation.