The Defendant Leaderboard
Ranked, like the Class of '15 — but by lawsuits, not lab-hops · n=5
| # | Defendant | The charge sheet |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI — the defendant-in-chief · 25+ suits — copyright, privacy, and wrongful death | most-sued in AI, and it’s not close |
| 2 | Google — visual artists; AI-companion claims; rode shotgun in Character.AI | named, settled, named again |
| 3 | Meta — author classes — won the big fair-use round (Kadrey) | won the argument; kept the books |
| 4 | Anthropic — pays to make it stop | $1.5B to authors; $3B in lyrics pending |
| 5 | Microsoft — “we just provide the infrastructure” | named beside OpenAI anyway |
- The Split — two kinds of plaintiff this fortnight. The Fighters want a precedent: The New York Times, Sony Music — they’ll spend years to set the rule. The Settlers want a cheque: the Bartz authors, Warner, UMG with Udio — take the money, launch the licensed product, go home. Venue Wars — where you file is half the verdict. S.D.N.Y. is publisher country; its judges keep saying no to dismissals. N.D. Cal. is home cooking for the tech bar. Pick your courthouse, pick your odds.