Sony and Warner Music sue AI company Anthropic over copyright infringement
Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, accusing the AI company of training its Claude models on copyrighted music from artists like The Beatles and Taylor Swift, allegedly producing near-identical copies. The suit claims Anthropic downloaded lyrics and sheet music from torrent sites, contradicting its ethical AI branding. This follows a prior 2023 suit by Universal Music Group and a later $3 billion joint action with other music publishers.
The lawsuit alleges Anthropic's Claude models generated near-identical song lyrics from artists including The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Mariah Carey, with publishers claiming the company sourced materials through torrent sites. This contradicts Anthropic's public branding as a more ethically compliant AI developer than competitors like OpenAI.
The action follows Universal Music Group's 2023 suit and a later $3 billion joint effort with Concord and ABKCO. Anthropic previously settled a $1.5 billion author class action, though a judge had earlier characterized AI training practices as "exceedingly transformative" under fair use doctrine.
This case could significantly influence how AI companies acquire training data and whether copyright holders can successfully challenge "transformative use" defenses. If publishers prevail, AI developers may need to license music catalogs, potentially raising costs that could pass to consumers. The outcome may also shape litigation strategies for authors and visual artists, though courts have shown mixed signals on fair use protections for AI training.