Anthropic, the developer of the AI chatbot Claude, has reached a settlement with three major music publishers in a copyright infringement lawsuit. The agreement addresses accusations that the company allegedly used copyrighted song lyrics to train its AI models.
U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee approved the settlement, which enforces restrictions on Anthropic’s future AI training practices. These restrictions prohibit the chatbot Claude from providing users with lyrics owned by the music publishers or generating new lyrics based on copyrighted material. The agreement also outlines a process for publishers to intervene if they suspect future copyright violations.
Background of the Lawsuit
In October 2023, music publishers including Universal Music Group, ABKCO, Concord Music Group, and Greg Nelson Music, filed a lawsuit in Tennessee federal court against Anthropic. The publishers alleged that Anthropic’s AI was trained on lyrics from over 500 copyrighted songs. They claimed that Claude provided responses containing substantial portions of these lyrics when asked for songs like Beyoncé’s Halo, Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk, and Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger.
The lawsuit also highlighted that legal platforms, such as Genius, pay licensing fees to distribute lyrics online, unlike Anthropic. Furthermore, the plaintiffs accused the company of “intentionally removing or altering copyright management information” for songs used in its AI training.
Anthropic’s Statement and Next Steps
Anthropic has denied any intention to infringe on copyrights, emphasizing its commitment to preventing such issues. “Claude is not intended to be used for copyright infringement purposes, and we have numerous tools in place to prevent such infringement,” the company stated to The Hollywood Reporter.
The agreement marks a step forward but only resolves part of the lawsuit, adds NIX Solutions. A court decision on a preliminary injunction against Anthropic using copyrighted lyrics in AI training is still pending. We’ll keep you updated as more developments unfold in this case.