Sony, Warner Music sue Anthropic over unauthorized AI training on song lyrics

Sony Music and Warner Chappell Music, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, filed a lawsuit Saturday (local time) in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing AI company Anthropic of using tens of thousands of song lyrics and sheet music without authorization to train its AI models. The suit marks the latest copyright battle for Anthropic, which has already faced legal challenges from the publishing industry.

Axios said the lawsuit could mark the opening of years of legal battles over how to protect intellectual property in music and the new age of AI technology.

Sony and Warner Music alleged that Anthropic obtained pop music sheet music and lyrics through pirated books downloaded from illegal sites, physical books purchased and scanned, and data scraped in bulk from websites in violation of their terms of service — all of which were then used to train its AI models.

The companies said Anthropic used thousands of songs without authorization, citing prominent examples including Mariah Carey's holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You," Taylor Swift's "Paper Rings" and Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer."

The suit stands in contrast to earlier actions that targeted a relatively limited number of works. Axios noted that a separate lawsuit filed by BMG against Anthropic alleges copyright infringement involving 493 works.

Sony and Warner Music also said Anthropic systematically manipulated and removed copyright management information to conceal its use of pirated material.

The two companies described the conduct as "the most massive and brazen theft of intellectual property in history" and sought damages of up to $150,000 per unauthorized song. They also called for the permanent destruction of all pirated lyrics databases and training files in Anthropic's possession.

This is not the first time Anthropic has faced allegations of using pirated material to train its AI models. In September 2025, the company agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement with authors and publishers — the largest copyright settlement in US history, according to Axios.

Sony and Warner Music criticized Anthropic, saying it "clearly views such settlement payments as simply a cost of doing business."

Anthropic told TechCrunch that it "disagrees with their claims and plans to vigorously defend itself in court."