A group of companies and other entities holding copyrights to songs recorded by Elvis Presley has sued artificial intelligence company Anthropic in a California federal court, alleging that it used the singer’s work without permission to train its Claude chatbot.
The plaintiffs, including Authentic Brands Group, filed the lawsuit on Friday, claiming that Anthropic’s alleged unauthorised use of Presley’s lyrics and musical compositions infringed their copyrights. They are seeking $41.1 million in damages.
“We disagree with the claims and intend to defend this case fully,” an Anthropic spokesperson said on Monday.
The lawsuit adds to a growing number of high-profile legal disputes between copyright owners and technology companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta Platforms, over the use of protected material to train artificial intelligence systems.
Anthropic reached a settlement last year in a copyright lawsuit brought by a group of authors who accused the company of using their books without permission to train its AI models. A judge granted final approval to the $1.5 billion settlement in July.
The company is also facing separate legal action from music publishers, including Universal Music Group, which allege that Anthropic misused song lyrics by Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and other artists to train Claude.
Anthropic publicly announced its long-awaited application for an initial public offering in the United States on Monday.
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