Anthropic, the developer behind the AI model Claude, has contested a lawsuit filed by a consortium of music companies including Universal Music Group, alleging misuse of copyrighted works. In a January 16th filing, Anthropic refuted the claims and argued that the case was filed in the wrong court.
The music companies accuse Anthropic of illegally using and distributing a significant volume of copyrighted material while training its AI models. Anthropic responded by questioning the credibility of the plaintiffs’ claims of irreparable harm and stated that the plaintiffs will have the opportunity to test their legal theories at an appropriate time and venue.
Anthropic dismissed the allegations as an attack on the new digital tool category and accused the plaintiffs of misunderstanding both the technology and the law. They also highlighted complaints about using Anthropic’s AI to access copyrighted lyrics, clarifying that the AI model was not designed to output copyrighted material.
The case mentions the infringement of at least 500 songs by artists like Beyonce, Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys. However, Anthropic asserts that no evidence was provided by the music companies, and there was no significant user engagement resulting in the production of copyrighted lyrics.
Founded by former employees of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, Anthropic has received backing from companies like Google and Amazon. This lawsuit is one of many ongoing disputes between AI developers and various creative publishers, artists, and companies over alleged copyright infringements during model training. A notable recent case was filed by The New York Times against OpenAI, claiming the model threatens the newspaper’s journalistic integrity by using its copyrighted information to provide free content to users.