Key facts
- Anthropic, an AI firm, has been sued in a class-action lawsuit.
- The suit alleges that Anthropic's premium Claude AI subscription plans mislead users about usage limits.
- Plaintiffs claim that the advertised usage multipliers for the Max 5x and Max 20x plans are not being met.
- The lawsuit seeks class-action status for users who subscribed to higher-tiered plans since April 2024.
- The complaint asks for Anthropic's marketing to be declared fraudulent and/or misleading.
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence firm affiliated with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is facing a class-action lawsuit over its premium Claude AI subscription pricing. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the suit alleges that Anthropic's marketing for its Max 5x ($100/month) and Max 20x ($200/month) subscription plans misleads users regarding usage limits.
The plaintiff, Karl Kahn, claims that the actual usage provided by these plans is significantly less than advertised and that the restrictions are difficult for customers to understand or predict. Kahn stated that a single five-hour work session consumed 15% of his weekly allotment on the Max 20x plan, forcing him to halt work, ration usage, or purchase additional usage.
The lawsuit references emails allegedly sent by Anthropic in July 2025 that outlined expected weekly usage, which plaintiffs argue further support their claim that access limits are not in line with promotional materials. The complaint seeks to have Anthropic's marketing deemed fraudulent and/or misleading and requests relief for affected subscribers.
This legal action comes amid broader scrutiny of AI companies, with rival OpenAI also facing a multistate probe over alleged user harm from its ChatGPT chatbot. The lawsuit puts Anthropic's own much-anticipated IPO plans under a cloud of scrutiny. Anthropic declined to comment on the lawsuit, according to The Wall Street Journal.