AWARD-WINNING author Zakes Mda has won a $1,5 billion (R25,8 billion) lawsuit.
He and other authors in the USA won a class-action lawsuit against the US against AI company Anthropic for using their books without permission to train language models.
Mda revealed on X, previously Twitter, that he was part of the case Bartz v. Anthropic, where a $1,5 billion settlement was preliminarily approved in September 2025.
Six of his books were used by the AI company.
"This lawsuit was about authors whose books were used without consent to train AI models. Whereas the newspaper article had only mentioned Ways of Dying, it turns out that six of my novels were used to train AI, and I was none the wiser: The Heart of Redness, The Madonna of Excelsior, The Whale Caller, She Plays with the Darkness, Sometimes There is a Void," he said.
"Don't be deceived by the billions. They are not all coming to me. They are shared by many writers in the USA. But at least, however little, I will be compensated for each of the books that were used. Damn! I didn't know of my contribution in the development of AI."
According to court documents, the lawsuit accused Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude, of using copyrighted books without permission, including works sourced from platforms like Library Genesis (LibGen) and Pirate Library Mirror (PiLiMi).
You may remember an article in a South African newspaper [I don't remember which one, but they did interview me then] a few months back reporting that my books and those of Nadine Gordimer were used to train ChatGPT without our permission. Some of you who are bo-tsebanyane…
- Zakes Mda (@ZakesMda) October 6, 2025
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The settlement, still pending final approval, is considered the largest copyright resolution in U.S. history. It also includes the destruction of pirated books and allows for additional claims if more works are discovered.
Mda explained that the issue is about more than money.
"The only reason I am telling you this story is to ask the question: what about our South African writers? You can't tell me that these AI developers only used books published in the USA.
"Does South African law allow South African-based writers to fight for their intellectual property rights in South African courts? Or does the so-called ‘fair use' doctrine leave them out in the cold from enjoying the fruits of their labour?" he said.
Mda said some readers were sceptical when he first mentioned the lawsuit.
"Some of you who are bo-tsebanyane (know-it-all) sneered when I posted that we were going to sue for compensation. Well, we did sue, and we won," Mda said.
He concluded by urging local writers to explore their rights.
"South African authors should find out from those who know, can we fight for our intellectual property and benefit from our work, or are we left behind?" he said.
