Home / Technology / Judge: Anthropic Must Face Deceptive Ads Lawsuit
Judge: Anthropic Must Face Deceptive Ads Lawsuit
9 Nov
Summary
- AI firm Anthropic faces claims of misleading customers about Claude Max subscriptions.
- A judge ruled that consumers could interpret marketing as five or 20 times more usage.
- Lawsuit alleges Max plan benefits were overstated regarding session vs. weekly usage caps.
Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic must now face claims that it misled customers about its premium Claude Max subscriptions. A federal judge in California ruled on Friday that consumers could interpret the company's marketing to mean that Max subscribers would receive five or 20 times more usage than lesser-tier subscribers.
The judge allowed claims for deceptive advertising under California consumer law, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract to proceed. The proposed class action lawsuit, filed in September, alleges that Anthropic overstated the benefits of its $100 and $200 per month Max plans. Subscribers reportedly receive five or 20 times more usage per session, but weekly caps were not similarly increased.
Anthropic contended that reasonable consumers would understand the usage claims as pertaining to sessions and pointed to website disclosures. However, the judge found these disclosures were too removed from primary sales pages to dismiss the case at this stage. The lawsuit seeks class action status for thousands of Claude subscribers.
