By: Mungukende Joshua
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music have sued artificial intelligence company Anthropic, accusing it of illegally using thousands of copyrighted musical works to develop its Claude AI models.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday, August 28, in a federal court in Northern California. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann are also named as defendants.
Music Publishers Accuse Anthropic of Mass Copyright Infringement
According to the lawsuit, the publishers allege that Anthropic obtained copyrighted material through torrenting, scraping and downloading on a large scale before using the material in the development and operation of its AI systems.
The complaint reportedly covers tens of thousands of musical compositions and includes well-known songs whose rights are controlled by the publishers. Sony and Warner are seeking damages that could reach up to $150,000 for each work allegedly infringed, potentially putting the case in the billions of dollars.
Anthropic has not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of publication.
Another Major Copyright Battle for Anthropic
The lawsuit comes after Anthropic faced a separate copyright dispute involving authors and publishers. The company agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in that case following allegations that copyrighted books had been acquired and used in developing its AI systems.
The new case highlights a growing conflict between the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry and copyright holders who argue that creative works should not be used to train commercial AI systems without permission or compensation.
For musicians, songwriters and publishers, the outcome could have major implications for how AI companies access and use copyrighted creative content.
As artificial intelligence continues to transform the global technology industry, the Anthropic case could become another important test of where innovation ends and copyright protection begins.
