🎵 AI vs Music: How Anthropic PBC Faces Legal Trouble for Copying Songs 🎵

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology that would have machines thinking and feeling as humans do is not quite here yet, but it is rapidly advancing. Generative AI programmers can now feed a computer thousands of examples — from the letter A to the human face to works of art and literature — and ask it to detect patterns that it then uses to make a statistical guess to produce something similar. 

In the heart of Nashville, Tennessee, a legal symphony is unfolding as music publishers aim to halt what they describe as “blatant and widespread copyright infringement” by Anthropic PBC, an AI startup founded by former members of OpenAI. The crescendo of this legal battle echoes through a motion filed on November 23, 2023, in a federal court.

Who or What is Claude?

Even with a simple name, Claude is an advanced chatbot and utilizes a vast language model to craft detailed responses to questions or queries by users. Most importantly, it can expand its abilities to the creation of original musical compositions, lyrics, and melodies based on user input or existing songs.

Allegations of Copyright Infringement

The publishers contend that Anthropic’s billion-dollar business rests on the unauthorized exploitation of musical works created by the labor of thousands of songwriters and composers. Their motion alleges that users, facilitated by Anthropic’s platforms like claude.ai, have accessed, copied, modified, and distributed infringing works without licenses or royalties to the authors in question. 

For instance, the lawsuit alleges that Claude will provide relevant lyrics from Don McLean’s “American Pie” when asked to write a song about the death of rock pioneer Buddy Holly.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on Anthropic’s recent submission to The United States Copyright Office (USCO) in response to a request for written submissions as part of a study (https://www.copyright.gov/ai/docs/Federal-Register-Document-Artificial-Intelligence-and-Copyright-NOI.pdf) around copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence systems.

That study was announced back in August when the USCO issued (https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2023/1017.html ) a notice of inquiry (NOI) in the Federal Register on the topic of copyright and AI.

In addition to Anthropic, companies that submitted written responses as part of the study include tech giants like Meta, Google and Adobe, as well as other prominent AI firms like Stability AI.

Universal Music Group submitted its own written response to the Copyright Office’s Notice of Inquiry concerning artificial intelligence and copyright.

The 99-page document, which was made publicly available on November 1, contains a series of questions by the USCO and corresponding answers from UMG.  

The publishers allege Anthropic “profits richly” from its infringement of their repertoires of copyrighted works, achieving a valuation of $5 billion while paying “nothing” to publishers or their songwriters.

“Anthropic must not be allowed to flout copyright law,” the publishers said in a court document supporting its request for a preliminary injunction. “If the court waits until this litigation ends to address what is already clear — that Anthropic is improperly using publishers’ copyrighted works — then the damage will be done.”

Publishers’ Demand

Seeking a preliminary injunction inter alia, the publishers aim to halt Anthropic from using, displaying, or facilitating access to any musical works infringing on copyrights. They have also asked the court for monetary damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work. 

Anthropic’s Response

At the time of writing this article, Anthropic has not responded to the motion. However,  in a statement to Reuters, Anthropic said, “While we can’t comment on the substance of the litigation, our focus remains the same — to build reliable, interpretable and steerable AI systems,” published here.(https://www.reuters.com/legal/music-publishers-ask-court-halt-ai-company-anthropics-use-lyrics-2023-11-17/ )

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Sources:

1. Anthropic – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic 
2. – Eleven OpenAI employees break off to establish Anthropic, raise $124m – https://aibusiness.com/verticals/eleven-openai-employees-break-off-to-establish-anthropic-raise-124m 
3. – Music Publishers’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (filed on November 23, 2023) – https://www.reuters.com/legal/music-publishers-ask-court-halt-ai-company-anthropics-use-lyrics-2023-11-17/ 
4. https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2023/1017.html
5. United States Copyright Office – Artificial Intelligence and Copyright available at https://www.copyright.gov/ai/docs/Federal-Register-Document-Artificial-Intelligence-and-Copyright-NOI.pdf 

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