The Authors Guild, representing prominent authors such as John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, is intensifying its efforts to compel testimony from Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, co-founders of Anthropic. The guild has filed a motion to force both individuals to testify in a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI. This case, initiated in September 2023, alleges that OpenAI used unauthorized material to train its AI models. Amodei and Mann, former employees of OpenAI, are believed to have unique insights relevant to the litigation. Despite initial agreements to provide depositions, recent developments suggest that their legal teams are now attempting to avoid or delay these testimonies.

The Authors Guild argues that Amodei and Mann possess firsthand knowledge crucial to the case. Both were previously employed by OpenAI, where they allegedly had access to and participated in activities related to training AI models using copyrighted content. In June 2024, Amodei and Mann agreed to seven-hour depositions following the issuance of subpoenas. However, near the end of 2024, their attorneys postponed these sessions, hoping to align them with another lawsuit involving comedian Sarah Silverman, author Michael Chabon, and author Paul Tremblay. Now, it appears that Amodei and Mann's legal representatives are seeking to bypass the depositions altogether.

In January 2025, Amodei's lawyers informed the Authors Guild that he was unavailable for deposition, citing his demanding schedule. They invoked the "apex doctrine," which allows high-ranking executives to avoid depositions if their schedules are overly burdened. Meanwhile, Mann's team cited personal reasons, including family obligations and a relative's serious medical diagnosis, to limit his testimony to four hours and only if coordinated with the consolidated lawsuit. Mann has also filed a motion to quash the subpoena in the combined OpenAI case.

The legal maneuvering highlights the growing complexity of the copyright lawsuits targeting OpenAI. Discovery in the Authors Guild case is set to conclude in April, while OpenAI reportedly seeks to raise around $40 billion. The reluctance of key figures like Amodei and Mann to testify underscores the high stakes involved in these legal battles over AI training data and intellectual property rights.