Elvis Presley music rights holders sue Anthropic, alleging unauthorized use of 274 songs to train AI model
Authentic Brands Group, which holds the rights to Elvis Presley's music, has sued Anthropic, alleging that it used 274 Presley songs without permission to train an AI model and seeking about $41 million in damages at $150,000 per song. The complaint alleges that Claude has been able to generate infringing content from nearly all of the songs in the catalog since its launch, and that Anthropic only put safeguards in place after being caught, with poor results. The case is one of the first major lawsuits brought directly by an artist's estate against an AI developer, and its ruling could set a precedent for AI's use of existing music catalogs.
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The case is brought directly by the artist's estate against an AI company, and its ruling could set a precedent for the use of music catalogs in training.
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Elvis Presley's music rights holders sue Anthropic, alleging unauthorized use of 274 songs to train AI model
2026-10-26 07:53 IT Home - Yuanyang
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IT Home, October 26 news: The holders of the Elvis Presley music catalog are suing artificial intelligence company Anthropic, alleging that the company used Presley's songs to train an AI model without permission.
Authentic Brands Group, the licensing agency that holds the music copyrights and likeness rights to Presley, alleges that Anthropic infringed rights related to 274 Presley songs. The lawsuit was filed in court last Friday local time.
Although AI companies have previously faced copyright infringement lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America and record companies such as Sony, Universal, and Warner Records, this case is one of the first major legal actions brought directly by an artist's estate against an AI development company. The outcome of the case could establish a general legal precedent for AI companies' use of existing music catalogs.
Lead attorney Richard Busch wrote in the complaint: "The plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to protect their proprietary rights. The defendant's entire business model is built on copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale."
The complaint states: "From its inception, Anthropic's AI model named Claude has been capable of generating infringing content for virtually all songs in various catalogs on the internet."
The complaint further alleges that Anthropic used 274 Presley songs to train the AI model, including tracks such as "Can't Help Falling in Love," "All Shook Up," and "A Little Less Conversation." The plaintiffs seek $150,000 per infringing track (IT Home note: approximately 1.003 million yuan at current exchange rates), for total damages of approximately $41 million (approximately 274 million yuan at current exchange rates).
The complaint states: "Only after being discovered did Anthropic set up so-called safeguards to restrict the output of infringing music content, and these safeguards are ineffective; at the same time, the company knew the protective measures could not prevent the model from continuing to produce infringing music content. This is sufficient to prove that Anthropic knowingly and continuously intentionally infringed the copyrights of others' musical works."
Some AI bots have even imitated real living singers on music streaming platforms. Last week, streaming giant Spotify announced that over the past year, the platform has removed approximately 50 million such low-quality AI tracks from its recommendation feeds.