A consumer is suing artificial intelligence company Anthropic, alleging the maker of Claude AI overstated the benefits of its most expensive subscription plans while delivering far less usage than customers were promised.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in California, claims Anthropic misled consumers who purchased its premium Max 5x and Max 20x plans, which cost $100 and $200 per month, respectively, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The suit was filed on behalf of Washington, D.C., resident Karl Kahn, who alleges Anthropic advertised the plans as providing five times and 20 times the usage of its Claude Pro subscription but failed to deliver those levels in practice.

"The actual usage provided by the Max 5x and Max 20x plans is far below the advertised amount of usage," the lawsuit states.

The complaint cites emails Anthropic allegedly sent to subscribers last July outlining expected weekly usage levels for certain AI models. According to the lawsuit, those figures suggest customers receive substantially less access than the company led them to expect.

Newsmax reached out to Anthropic for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Kahn, who initially used Claude for personal tasks before turning to the chatbot for coding work, reportedly upgraded to the Max 20x plan in April.

Within weeks, he allegedly began running into company-imposed usage limits.

The lawsuit claims he burned through about 15% of his weekly allotment during a single five-hour coding session.

As a result, Kahn allegedly "found himself needing either to halt his work, ration his usage, or purchase additional usage to ensure that he could complete his work," according to the filing.

The lawsuit seeks refunds and other damages for affected subscribers and asks the court to rule that Anthropic's marketing of the plans was fraudulent.

The case underscores growing questions about transparency in the booming AI industry, where consumers and businesses alike are spending increasing amounts on chatbot subscriptions and AI-powered tools.

Anthropic's Claude Pro plan costs between $17 and $20 per month, while the company's premium offerings can cost hundreds of dollars monthly.

The lawsuit also comes as AI companies face mounting pressure to keep up with demand.

Earlier this year, Anthropic's systems were strained after its AI models surged in popularity, prompting complaints from some users about outages and usage restrictions.

Meanwhile, Anthropic and rivals including OpenAI and Google are racing to expand their AI offerings amid intense competition and growing investor interest.

The legal challenge arrives just days after the Trump administration moved to block foreign governments, companies, and individuals from accessing Anthropic's most advanced AI tools, forcing the company to restrict access to certain models to comply with the new rules.