Sony lawsuit cites Anthropic staff chats praising piracy and alleges AI songs harm songwriters

A group of U.S. songwriters has filed a lawsuit against AI‑music developer Anthropic, alleging that the company’s torrenting of copyrighted compositions has undermined the industry’s revenue streams. The plaintiffs claim that Anthropic’s “AI‑generated songs,” which have recently entered the Billboard charts, were produced by training on vast amounts of unlicensed music without proper clearance. They argue that the company’s distribution of these tracks through torrent networks has deprived original creators of royalties and contractual protections.

The suit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages, citing the rapid rise of AI‑generated hits that now occupy top positions on streaming platforms and radio playlists. Defendants argue that the AI system uses publicly available data and that the resulting works are sufficiently transformative to qualify for fair use. The case highlights a growing legal dispute over the ownership of AI‑derived content and the responsibilities of developers in ensuring that training data is cleared for commercial use. If the court sides with the songwriters, it could set a precedent for how AI‑generated music is regulated and compensated in the United States.