Anthropic Sued by Sony, Warner Music Over Alleged Pirated Songs Used to Train AI

The publishing divisions of Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in a California federal court. These firms alleged that the company trained its Claude AI models using copyrighted song compositions.

According to the complaint from Sony and Warner, Anthropic stole the words and music from countless musicians. These artists include Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, and The Beatles, in order to teach Claude to react to human commands.

Lawsuits Common Scenario for Anthropic

Authors, publishers, record labels, and news organisations are among the copyright holders who have recently sued tech companies over the usage of their work to train AI systems. This lawsuit is just the most recent in a long line of such instances. Continuing from 2023 and continuing into this year, Universal Music Group sued Anthropic for allegedly using copyrighted song lyrics in artificial intelligence training. Among the many conflicts involving artificial intelligence, Anthropic made history last year when it paid $1.5 billion to end a class action lawsuit brought by a number of writers.

In their lawsuit, Sony and Warner stated that Anthropic evidently views that as a necessary evil, considering that its whole business model is still based on copyright infringement. Additionally, both companies pointed out that a payment of $1.5 billion is clearly insufficient to discourage piracy by a company that has turned a remarkable $2 trillion valuation from massive infringement.

A representative for Anthropic noted that this is the third lawsuit in which the same attorneys have recycled claims from prior instances. The representative further stated that the firm will defend itself "robustly" and that AI training does not infringe on intellectual materials, referencing the court who ruled against the company in the authors' lawsuit.

More Allegations by Sony and Warner

According to the lawsuit, Anthropic trained Claude by stealing the publishers' song lyrics and sheet music from pirate sites. Additionally, both companies mentioned that Claude is able to duplicate copyrighted lyrics "verbatim" when asked to do so. Sony and Warner also claimed that Anthropic had taught Claude to write a flood of supposedly "new" AI-generated song lyrics using their songs.

Both companies pointed out that these AI-generated lyrics pose a threat to the market because they compete with music publishers' legal copyrighted works. In addition to a restraining order prohibiting Anthropic from making use of their works, music companies are requesting damages of up to $150,000 per copyright infringement. The outcome of the case could influence future legal rules on the sourcing and use of copyrighted material by AI businesses in developing generative AI models. Therefore it is anticipated that the tech and entertainment industries will closely monitor it.