Elvis Presley rights holders sue Anthropic over AI music training

The legal challenge begins

The owners of Elvis Presley’s music have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, the creator of the Claude AI models. Authentic Brands Group, which manages Presley's intellectual property, joined by several other companies and individuals, claims the AI company used copyrighted lyrics without permission. The lawsuit alleges that Anthropic infringed on 274 specific songs during the development of its flagship models.

The complaint highlights that these works are some of the most influential musical compositions in history. The list of alleged infringements includes major hits such as "Don't Be Cruel," "Return to Sender," and "A Little Less Conversation." The plaintiffs argue that these songs were used to train the AI without any form of licensing agreement or payment to the rights holders.

Anthropic has responded to the allegations by stating they disagree with the claims. A spokesperson for the company noted that they intend to defend themselves fully against the lawsuit. This legal battle marks another significant step in the ongoing debate over how AI companies gather the data necessary to build large language models.

How the AI learns music

The lawsuit describes a process where Anthropic allegedly engaged in the mass scraping of internet content to develop its technology. The plaintiffs argue that this practice involves pirating books and music to fuel the growth of the Claude models. They claim the company has built its entire business model on infringing copyrights at an unfathomable scale.

According to the complaint, the infringement occurred throughout the entire development of the Claude models. The plaintiffs suggest that the AI was trained on these copyrighted lyrics to learn patterns of speech and composition. This training allows the model to generate outputs that can mimic the style or specific content of the original music.

The rights holders point out that the AI can still produce infringing content today. They claim that when users ask the model to recreate specific songs for a modern audience, the results are too similar to the originals. The lawsuit argues that these renders keep the same structure and hooks while only using light rewording or swapped-out words.

Impact on the music industry

This lawsuit is part of a much larger wave of litigation involving the music industry and AI developers. Several major labels and publishers have already filed similar suits against Anthropic this year. These include actions from Universal Music, Concord Music Group, ABKCO Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony Music Publishing, and Warner Chappell Music.

The legal pressure extends beyond just the major labels to independent publishers as well. For instance, the independent music publisher Round Hill and Reservoir Media have also filed lawsuits against Anthropic and the AI music generation company Suno. These actions reflect a coordinated effort by rights holders to protect their intellectual property from unauthorized AI use.

The Elvis Presley plaintiffs are positioning themselves as guardians of a legendary catalog. They argue that the AI's ability to reproduce copyrighted songs edges past mere inspiration. By seeking a permanent injunction, they hope to prevent Anthropic from further using their works and demand the destruction of all unauthorized copies of the copyrighted material.

Past settlements and future risks

Anthropic has already faced significant legal hurdles regarding copyright and training data. Last year, the company agreed to a landmark $1.5 billion settlement in a lawsuit filed by authors. Those authors alleged that the company had illegally used pirated copies of their books to train its AI models.

That settlement was noted as the largest in the history of American copyright cases. It established a high-stakes environment for AI companies that rely on large datasets. The current lawsuit involving Elvis Presley's music suggests that the music industry is now following a similar path of seeking massive damages for unauthorized training.

The Presley rights holders are seeking up to $150,000 for each of the 274 works they claim were willfully infringed. If successful, this could result in a significant financial penalty for Anthropic. The outcome of this case will likely influence how other AI companies approach the acquisition of copyrighted musical works in the future.