Anthropic and several record labels have signed a legal agreement in the United States. This is like the first victory for the music industry. The AI ​​provider clarifies that its AI models no longer output copyrighted song lyrics and do not use them as a basis for generating similar songs. The original trial is scheduled for fall 2023. The issue is still open whether music and songs can be used to train AI models.
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The plaintiffs include Universal Music, Concord Music and ABKCO, where the Rolling Stones are under contract. You accused Anthropic of using millions of songs to train its own AI models and playing them back upon user request. Over 500 songs were chosen to represent the lawsuit, including songs by Katy Perry, Beyoncé, and many other famous artists.
Record labels receive further guidance for the cloud
Anthropic has now committed to building additional guardrails into future AI models so that none of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted songs are used as output by the AI. It is also intended that record labels will have an opportunity to intervene if these guardrails do not work as expected. You can report such instances to the AI ​​provider, who must respond immediately.
Anthropic assured that it is unlikely that an AI model, or especially an AI chatbot cloud, will reproduce song lyrics one-to-one. There are already protective measures in place to prevent this from happening. Still the railing is being expanded.
Decision on AI training still pending
Another ruling from the court is also expected regarding the use of song lyrics and music for AI training. However, this may still take a few months. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused Anthropic of “direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement, indirect infringement, and removing or altering copyright management information in violation of copyright law.” Now the signed agreement that has been released by the court clearly contains a paragraph stating that the issue has not yet been decided. “In particular, the parties continue to dispute the Publishers’ request in their motion for preliminary injunction, which is neither resolved nor affected by this settlement,” It is stated in the justification,
Anthropic, like other AI providers, has so far relied on the US doctrine of fair use. This allows the use of material under copyright as long as it benefits everyone.
Apart from this lawsuit, there are other lawsuits with similar allegations. For example, GEMA is also suing OpenAI. The music collecting society has gone to the Munich regional court. There have been other lawsuits on behalf of publishers, the most prominent example being the New York Times lawsuit, but smaller publishers and individual artists also seek to protect their interests in court. There are also lawsuits against image generator providers, including a copyright lawsuit brought by Sarah Anderson against Stillness.
Case Number: Case 5:24-cv-03811-ekl
(EMW)
