UMG Unleashes $3 Billion Copyright Lawsuit Against Anthropic Over AI Music Training

Universal Music Group (UMG) has launched a significant copyright infringement lawsuit against the AI company Anthropic, accusing them of using illegally obtained music to train their AI models. The lawsuit could result in damages exceeding $3 billion.

This legal action follows a prior ruling where a judge indicated that AI companies could face substantial penalties for training their models using unlawfully acquired datasets. UMG alleges that Anthropic did precisely this to enable Claude to generate new song lyrics.

Six months after a judge ruled in a separate case that AI companies could face huge damages for training models on illegally-acquired datasets, UMG says in a Wednesday (Jan. 28) lawsuit that that’s exactly what Anthropic did to teach Claude to spit out new song lyrics.


The lawsuit claims that Anthropic's "multibillion-dollar business empire” was built on piracy, coinciding with UMG's move to strike settlements with other AI firms.

UMG's lawyers emphasize the potential of ethical AI but stress the importance of protecting the rights of publishers and songwriters. The lawsuit asserts that Anthropic illegally obtained sheet music for numerous songs owned by UMG and other publishers, including iconic tracks like The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” Creedance Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” Maroon Five’s “She Will Be Loved,” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.”

This new case supplements a previous lawsuit filed in 2023 against Anthropic by UMG, Concord Music Group, ABKCO, and others. The initial suit accused Anthropic of widespread copyright violations by using songs without permission to train its Claude models. Anthropic has consistently denied these allegations, arguing that its training practices constitute fair use.

A prior ruling determined that AI training could be considered fair use if the training materials are legally obtained. However, the judge also noted that companies could be liable for significant damages if the materials were acquired illegally.

UMG subsequently attempted to amend its original lawsuit to include allegations that Anthropic used illegally downloaded books containing sheet music. However, this attempt was rejected on procedural grounds.

As a result, UMG and the other publishers have filed this new lawsuit, specifically addressing Anthropic's alleged piracy.

The publishers claim that Anthropic downloaded unauthorized copies of their works from illegal shadow libraries to avoid payment.

Anthropic has not yet responded to requests for comment.

UMG stated that the second case was necessary due to Anthropic’s “persistent and brazen infringement” and that they are suing for infringement of more than 20,000 songs, seeking potential damages exceeding $3 billion.

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