Sony Music, Warner Music Sue AI Firm Anthropic Over Copyright Infringement

Sony Music and Warner Music have initiated legal action against artificial intelligence company Anthropic, alleging the firm illicitly used copyrighted music and lyrics to train its AI models. This lawsuit makes Anthropic the target of all three major music publishers, as Universal filed a similar suit in January.

The allegations claim Anthropic acquired music and lyrics unlawfully, reportedly through torrenting and scraping vast amounts of lyrics from third-party websites. The filing states that Anthropic co-founder Benjamin Mann personally conducted or directed this activity and discussed it openly on internal communication channels. Anthropic, which previously settled a $1.5 billion lawsuit over pirated books, stated, "we intend to defend ourselves robustly in court."

The case highlights concerns within the media and content creation industries regarding AI companies' approach to intellectual property. Past incidents, such as OpenAI's ambiguity surrounding the training data for its Sora video model, have fueled distrust. AI firms often adopt a very liberal interpretation of "fair use" when harvesting content for their models.

Content creators are advised to prepare for this landscape. Simply blocking content may lead to reduced visibility in AI search results. A strategic approach is recommended, involving blocking training bots while allowing access only to retrieval bots. Furthermore, implementing one's own verification systems can track what data bots access, logging it as evidence against potential misuse.

AI companies are expected to have incentives to adhere to rules, as licensing deals and court cases have expensively demonstrated the consequences of errors in content acquisition. Clear evidence of illicit usage would lead to significant repercussions for these firms.