South African writer Zakes Mda among authors to receive compensation after AI company Anthropic used his novels without permission
Bulelwa Hoala
Renowned South African author Zakes Mda has confirmed that he was part of a class-action lawsuit, Bartz v. Anthropic, which resulted in a $1.5 billion settlement approved in September 2025.
This comes after several of his novels were reportedly used by AI company Anthropic without his consent to train their artificial intelligence system.
The award-winning writer revealed that six of his books were used illegally, including Ways of Dying, The Heart of Redness, The Madonna of Excelsior, The Whale Caller, She Plays with the Darkness, and Sometimes There is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsiders.
According to Mda, the case involved multiple authors whose works were allegedly used without permission to develop artificial intelligence tools.
“Don’t be deceived by the billions. They are not all coming to me. They are shared by many writers in the USA,” Mda wrote.
“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,” he added.
Mda also raised concerns about the rights of South African authors whose works may have been used by AI developers, noting that initial reports suggest this includes the works of writer and political activist Nadine Gordimer.
“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?,” he asked, posing the question to his followers.
Click the link to read more about what the New York Times has called “the largest copyright settlement in history”: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/books/review/andrea-bartz-anthropic-lawsuit.html
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