Music Publishers Sue Anthropic Over AI Lyric Use

Music publishers have expanded their copyright lawsuit against AI developer Anthropic. Concord Music Group, Universal Music Publishing Group, and ABKCO Music filed an amended complaint, alleging Anthropic unlawfully copied song lyrics to train its AI chatbot, Claude. The publishers claim Claude was designed to provide copyrighted lyrics in response to user requests. Internal records reportedly show Anthropic employees and contractors prompted the system for copyrighted lyrics during development. The filing cites an example where an Anthropic co-founder asked Claude for lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row." What's more, publishers allege Anthropic used tools to remove copyright notices from lyrics during training. They argue this ability to reproduce lyrics is "a feature, not a bug." This amended complaint covers around 500 songs. This case is a key legal challenge as courts address AI training with copyrighted material.