Sony, Warner Music Sue Anthropic Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Music Publishing have launched a legal challenge against artificial intelligence company Anthropic, accusing it of unlawfully using copyrighted songs and musical compositions to train its Claude AI models.

The lawsuit, filed in a US federal court in California, alleges that Anthropic copied hundreds of song lyrics and sheet music without permission. The works are said to include material associated with major artists such as The Beatles, Taylor Swift and Michael Jackson, along with hundreds of other musicians and songwriters.

According to the complaint, Anthropic obtained copyrighted material through unauthorised torrent downloads and incorporated it into the training process used to develop Claude. The music publishers further allege that the AI system can reproduce copyrighted lyrics word-for-word when users issue appropriate prompts.

The case is the latest in a growing series of copyright disputes between creators and technology companies over the use of protected works in developing generative AI systems.

Authors, publishers, music companies and news organisations have increasingly taken legal action against AI developers, arguing that their intellectual property has been used without permission or compensation to build commercial AI products.

Anthropic has already faced several copyright battles. Universal Music Group sued the company in 2023 and again this year over allegations involving copyrighted song lyrics. Those cases remain unresolved.

Anthropic also reached a major settlement last year with a group of authors, agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to resolve a class-action copyright dispute.

Sony and Warner argue in their latest complaint that the previous settlement has not provided a sufficient deterrent. They allege that Anthropic's business continues to depend heavily on the use of copyrighted material without proper authorisation.

Anthropic rejected the latest allegations, describing the lawsuit as a repeat of claims already being pursued in other cases. A company spokesperson said the allegations were being brought by the same lawyers and maintained that Anthropic would defend itself vigorously.

The company also argued that using copyrighted material to train AI systems can constitute fair use, pointing to findings by the judge who handled the earlier authors' case.

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Music Publishing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The publishers are seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each copyright they say Anthropic infringed. They are also asking the court to prohibit the company from using their copyrighted works in the future.

The lawsuit could become another significant test of how US copyright law applies to the rapidly expanding AI industry, particularly as technology companies face growing pressure to obtain licences for the creative works used to train their systems.