In a significant legal confrontation, BMG has filed a lawsuit against the AI company Anthropic, claiming unauthorized use of lyrics from renowned artists like Justin Bieber and the Rolling Stones to train their chatbot. This case highlights growing tensions between music rights holders and artificial intelligence developers over the alleged misuse of copyrighted materials.
Allegations of Unauthorized Use
Filed in a federal court in California, the lawsuit alleges that Anthropic, an AI firm established by former OpenAI staffers, has been using lyrics from artists such as Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, and Ariana Grande without authorization. According to BMG, Anthropic’s infringement traces back to the company’s inception, with claims that the firm utilized unauthorized scraping tools to extract text from online sources, including illicit pirate libraries.
“Anthropic’s illegal conduct does not stop with these multiple direct infringements,” states the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone. BMG accuses Anthropic of encouraging and profiting from copyright violations committed by its clients and users of its Claude models.
Response and Legal Implications
Anthropic has not provided a comment in response to the lawsuit. The suit marks another entry in a series of legal actions targeting AI companies for similar allegations. BMG’s complaint underscores that Anthropic trained its models using BMG-managed music, pointing to the ease with which Claude chatbot could reproduce tracks, such as “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars and the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
BMG emphasizes that no consent was given for using its copyrighted works in Claude, and Anthropic failed to respond to a cease-and-desist letter sent in December 2025. “Anthropic’s rapid development of its new technology is no excuse for its egregious law-breaking,” the lawsuit asserts.
Seeking Legal Remedies
BMG is pursuing damages up to $150,000 for each work allegedly infringed, along with a court order for Anthropic to disclose its training data and methods. The lawsuit accuses Anthropic of persisting with the alleged infringement, despite receiving multiple legal warnings from creators and rights holders.
“Anthropic could cease its infringing conduct at any time,” the complaint highlights. BMG argues that Anthropic’s actions undermine its founding principles of developing an ethical AI model, thus spotlighting the ongoing clash between innovative AI technologies and established copyright laws.
