Today in AI

A federal judge gave final approval to Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement of a class-action copyright lawsuit, with payouts working out to roughly $3,000 per work across an estimated 500,000 books and other texts. It's believed to be the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history, though several authors and publishers say the number still undervalues what was used to train Claude. The approval likely sets a reference price other AI labs facing similar suits will have to reckon with.

Apple has filed a trade secrets lawsuit accusing OpenAI of a pattern of trying to get current and former Apple employees to hand over confidential information, reportedly tied to OpenAI's own hardware push. The timing is notable — OpenAI has been building out consumer devices alongside its software business. If the suit drags on, it could slow hiring and product timelines for whatever OpenAI is building next.

Infinity, an AI inference infrastructure startup, raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation, with backers including Touring Capital and individual researchers from both OpenAI and Anthropic. Notably, the round was backed by people from two labs that normally compete head-to-head. It's a small check by 2026 standards, but the investor list signals real technical credibility.

A widely discussed piece digs into whether Moonshot AI's Kimi models represent a genuine competitive threat to U.S. frontier labs or are being overhyped by an industry hungry for a new storyline. The argument centers on how quickly Chinese open-weight models have closed the gap on benchmarks that used to clearly favor OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Regardless of where you land, it's a sign that "who's winning" is a much messier question than it was a year ago.