BMG sues Anthropic for using Bruno Mars, Rolling Stones lyrics in AI training

By Blake Brittain

March 18 (Reuters) - Music company BMG Rights Management has sued artificial intelligence startup Anthropic in California federal court for allegedly using its copyrighted lyrics to train the large language models powering its Claude chatbot.

BMG said in the complaint filed on Tuesday that Anthropic copied and reproduced lyrics from hit songs by the Rolling Stones, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande and other prominent rock and pop musicians, infringing hundreds of copyrights.

The lawsuit is the latest among dozens of high-stakes cases brought by authors, news outlets, and other copyright owners against tech companies for using their work in training large language models behind their chatbots. BMG rival Universal Music Group and other music publishers filed a related lawsuit against Anthropic in 2023, which is still ongoing.

Anthropic settled another AI training lawsuit brought by a group of authors for $1.5 billion last year.

Spokespeople for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

AI companies have argued that they make fair use of copyrighted material by transforming it into something new.

BMG, owned by German media group Bertelsmann BTGGg.F, cited 493 examples of copyrights that Anthropic allegedly infringed. Statutory damages for copyright infringement under U.S. law can range from hundreds of dollars up to $150,000 per work if the court finds the infringement was willful.