Go to today's feed

Sony, Warner Music Sue Anthropic Over AI Training Data

Science5 sourcesAug 31, 2026
ContestedRigor 485 sources

The Story

Sony Music and Warner Music have filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic in California federal court, alleging the misuse of copyrighted song compositions to train its Claude AI models. The complaint, filed on Friday, states that Anthropic pirated hundreds of song lyrics and sheet music from artists including The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson. This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions brought by copyright owners against tech companies for using their work in AI training systems. Universal Music Group previously sued Anthropic in 2023 over similar allegations, a case that is still ongoing. Anthropic previously settled a class action lawsuit with a group of authors for $1.5 billion last year. Sony and Warner claim in their complaint that Anthropic's business model is built on copyright theft and that the previous settlement was insufficient to deter infringing conduct. The publishers allege that Anthropic illegally obtained lyrics and sheet music through torrent downloads and that Claude can reproduce copyrighted lyrics verbatim. An Anthropic spokesperson stated that the company disagrees with the publishers' claims and intends to defend itself robustly in court. The lawsuit names Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann as defendants, accusing them of a brazen campaign of illegally torrenting, scraping, and downloading copyrighted works.

The Spread

What they agree on

  • Sony Music and Warner Music have sued Anthropic.
  • The lawsuit alleges Anthropic used copyrighted songs to train its AI models.
  • The case was filed in California federal court.
  • Anthropic previously settled a lawsuit with authors for $1.5 billion.

Where they split

  • Axios and TechCrunch frame the lawsuit as a "blockbuster lawsuit" and a "brazen campaign" of intellectual property theft, respectively.
  • Reason focuses on a separate court victory for Anthropic regarding its designation as a "supply chain risk to national security" by the federal government.
  • Business Recorder and Channel News Asia include details about Anthropic's previous $1.5 billion settlement with authors, while Axios and TechCrunch also mention this settlement in the context of prior legal challenges.

Source Perspectives

Left1 source
Center3 sources
Right1 source