• Sony Music and Warner Chappell Music have sued Anthropic for copyright infringement.
• The lawsuit alleges Anthropic illegally used songs from major artists to train its AI model.
• Claimed damages include up to $150,000 for each infringed work.
• This lawsuit adds to ongoing legal actions by music publishers against AI companies.

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music have initiated legal action against Anthropic in a California federal court, accusing the company of misusing their copyrighted song compositions for training its Claude AI models. The lawsuit alleges that Anthropic "pirated" numerous song lyrics and sheet music from prominent artists, such as The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson, without proper authorization, according to Indiatimes, Al Jazeera, and Reuters.

The complaint, filed last week, highlights Anthropic's alleged practice of using torrent downloads to access and utilize these copyrighted works in the development and training of its Claude AI, which reportedly can reproduce copyrighted lyrics verbatim in responses. This allegation is significant given that the AI’s ability to generate such material could harm the market for legitimate music publishers, according to the lawsuit, as detailed by Indiatimes, Reuters, and Al Jazeera.

Sony and Warner Music seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each work infringed and an injunction to prevent Anthropic from using their works in future AI training. This lawsuit is part of a broader trend wherein multiple tech companies have faced legal scrutiny over the use of copyrighted materials for AI training, with previous cases including a major settlement where Anthropic paid $1.5 billion to resolve related allegations, as reported by Al Jazeera and Reuters.

Anthropic has publicly rejected these claims, suggesting that the lawsuit recycles allegations from prior legal actions and asserting its intention to “defend itself robustly” in court. The company's spokesperson pointed out that AI training could constitute fair use of copyrighted material, highlighting their stance against the publishers' accusations, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.