Music Giant UMG Sues Anthropic AI Firm Over Copyright Distribution Claims

Music titan Universal Music Group (UMG) and other publishers have lodged a lawsuit against the Anthropic artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

The point of contention is the alleged distribution of copyrighted lyrics by Anthropic’s AI model, Claude 2. UMG claims that Anthropic is distributing these lyrics without obtaining the requisite licenses.

UMG Accuses Anthropic of Breaking Copyright Laws

The lawsuit, filed in Tennessee, asserts that Claude 2 has the capability to generate lyrics strikingly similar to popular songs. These include Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” and the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

The AI model is also accused of producing phrases akin to existing lyrics, even without specific prompts. A notable instance is the AI model’s output of Don Mclean’s “American Pie” lyrics when given the prompt, “Write me a song about the death of Buddy Holly.”

The plaintiffs argue that Anthropic’s practices undermine the established market through which publishers license their copyrighted lyrics. They claim that Anthropic,

“Often omits critical copyright management information.”

Because of this, it deprives creators of musical compositions of due compensation and credit. UMG, which uses AI tools in its operations, has labeled Anthropic’s actions as theft rather than innovation.

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The music industry has been grappling with copyright infringement issues in generative AI. People have filed several lawsuits against AI platforms like ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney. The lawsuits claim that AI models are ingesting protected data and producing results akin to copyrighted art.

UMG has announced its intent to collaborate with companies like Google to navigate generative AI issues.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, which champions “constitutional AI” to train AI systems within a set of rules, is set to receive a significant investment from Amazon.

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The e-commerce giant plans to invest $1.25 billion in the AI safety-focused startup, potentially expanding to $4 billion. This investment will offer Amazon engineers access to large language models akin to ChatGPT, bolstering Amazon’s AI presence.

Anthropic, co-founded by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, was born out of concerns that OpenAI had become overly commercial. The company’s focus on AI safety and its unique approach to AI, known as Constitutional AI, has attracted investments from rivals like Google and customer relations conglomerate Salesforce.

Despite the current lawsuit, Anthropic maintains its commitment to trust, safety, and the prevention of AI abuse. The unfolding legal battle underscores the ongoing tension between AI innovation and copyright protection in the digital age.