Corrected: Anthropic, music publishers to make key arguments in AI training case

Meta Platforms

Yesterday 11:00

Corrects headline to clarify that the plaintiffs are music publishers and not labels
UMG, other music publishers have sued Anthropic over use of song lyrics to train Claude
Tech companies say AI training makes fair use of copyrighted work
US District Judge Eumi Lee will be the third judge to consider fair use in high-stakes generative AI training cases
By Blake Brittain
Oct 21 (Reuters) - US District Judge Eumi Lee in San Jose, California, will hear arguments Wednesday on a key Anthropic defense to a copyright lawsuit brought by music publishers, including Universal Music Group UMG.AS, over the use of their song lyrics to train its chatbot Claude.
The publishers' case and others like it revolve around whether AI systems make "fair use" of copyrighted material by utilizing it to create transformative new content. How judges like Lee rule on the fair use defense will likely determine the fate of dozens of high-stakes lawsuits brought by authors, news outlets, visual artists and others against tech giants including Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta Platforms over their AI training.
Two other Northern California judges who have already weighed in on the closely watched issue have split on whether generative AI training generally makes fair use of copyrighted material, which would shield tech companies from liability for using millions of copyrighted works to train their systems without content owners' permission.
Now-retired US District Judge William Alsup sided with Anthropic last year on its argument that its AI training made fair use of books. Two days later, US District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled for Meta in a similar lawsuit but warned that AI training “in many circumstances” would not be fair use.
In the case being heard by Lee, music publishers UMG, Concord and ABKCO sued ​Anthropic in 2023, alleging its use of their lyrics to train Claude to respond to human prompts infringed their copyrights in hundreds of songs by artists including Beyonce, the Rolling ‌Stones ⁠and the Beach Boys. 
Anthropic has argued that its AI training makes transformative use of song lyrics ​to "help Claude understand human language and enable progress and productivity in science, business and ⁠education." 
"Allowing copyright holders to veto such a transformative technology would ignore the Supreme Court’s mandate that the primary objective of copyright ​is not to reward the author, but to serve the public," Anthropic said.
The publishers have told the court that Anthropic's use of their lyrics is not fair because it enables Claude to generate new lyrics that dilute the market for their works.
"Claude is being used to proliferate AI-generated song lyrics in huge numbers, and such AI songs created with tools like Claude are saturating streaming platforms and even climbing the Billboard charts," the publishers said in a court filing in March.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)