The Powers That Be: Daily Zaz’s A.I. War & Anthropic’s $1.5B Settlement
Sep 11, 2025
Eriq Gardner, a journalist at Puck specializing in AI lawsuits, joins the discussion on the wave of legal challenges facing AI technologies. He dives into major cases against companies like Midjourney as entertainment giants assert copyright infringement. Gardner sheds light on a significant settlement involving Anthropic, accused of exploiting countless literary works, raising critical questions about author compensation and AI accountability. The conversation explores how these legal battles could reshape future AI regulations.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Scale Makes AI Replicas Dangerous
- Studios fear AI image tools because they produce near-exact replicas of iconic characters at scale.
- That scale and ease of copying is what makes the threat different from amateur fan art.
Product Choices Strengthen Legal Claims
- MidJourney's own YouTube channel and rollback of filters strengthen studios' claims of willful competition.
- Those operational choices provide evidence studios can use to allege knowledge and intent.
Platform Says Tool, Not Copyist
- MidJourney frames itself as a neutral tool and blames users for infringing prompts.
- That defense shifts liability debate toward user actions versus platform responsibility.
