Judge Rules in Favor of Anthropic Over Universal Music Group in AI Lyrics Use Case

A US judge has ruled against Universal Music Group’s attempt to block Anthropic from using copyrighted lyrics for AI training, citing lack of irreparable harm.

In a twist that’s got everyone talking, a US District Judge just threw a curveball in the AI vs. copyright showdown. Anthropic came out on top against Universal Music Group (UMG) and a bunch of other music publishers. The judge wasn’t having it when they tried to stop Anthropic from using their lyrics to teach Claude, its AI assistant, some new tricks.

Why? Well, the judge thought the publishers were asking for too much, too soon. They couldn’t show that Anthropic was doing them any real, lasting damage. Plus, there’s this whole ‘fair use’ thing with AI training that’s still up in the air—nobody really knows where the lines are drawn. (Talk about a legal gray area, right?)

This whole mess started back in 2023 when UMG and friends decided to take Anthropic to court, crying foul over copyright infringement. They claimed Anthropic was helping itself to their songs without so much as a ‘please’ or ‘thank you.’ Fast forward to this year, and the two sides managed to hash out a partial deal, with Anthropic promising to play nice and sort out any copyright issues ASAP.