Sony, Warner Music sue Anthropic over songs used in AI training

Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic in California federal court, alleging that Anthropic improperly used copyrighted song compositions to train its Claude AI models. According to the complaint, filed on Friday, Sony and Warner claim that Anthropic pirated hundreds of song lyrics and sheet music from renowned artists such as The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson to train Claude to respond to user prompts.

This lawsuit adds to a growing number of legal actions brought against tech companies by copyright holders, including authors, publishers, music labels, and news organizations, over the utilization of their work in AI system training. Earlier this year, Universal Music Group also sued Anthropic for allegedly using copyrighted song lyrics in AI training, with the case still ongoing.

In 2023, Anthropic settled a class action lawsuit brought by authors for $1.5 billion, reportedly considering it a "cost of doing business" given its heavy reliance on copyrighted material for its operations. Sony and Warner expressed their dissatisfaction with the settlement, deeming it insufficient to deter the company's infringement and noting that the company's valuation has grown to $2 trillion due to its use of such mass infringement.

The labels further argue that Anthropic's use of their lyrics constitutes a violation of copyright, enabling Claude to reproduce copyrighted lyrics verbatim when prompted. Additionally, the complaint alleges that Anthropic employed the publishers' lyrics to instruct Claude in generating "vast quantities of purportedly 'new' AI-generated song lyrics," which threaten the legitimate copyrighted works of music publishers.

Sony and Warner seek damages of up to $150,000 per infringed copyright and a court injunction preventing Anthropic from using their works. The company's spokesperson stated that they will defend themselves vigorously and that AI training is considered fair use of copyrighted material, citing the judge in the company's previous case. Sony Music and Warner's representatives have yet to provide further comment on the matter.