The owners of Elvis Presley’s music have launched a legal battle over artificial intelligence, suing AI giant Anthropic over allegations it trained its models on hundreds of the legendary artist’s songs without permission.
The new lawsuit, filed on Friday (Oct. 23) and first reported boardclaims that Anthropic, the tech giant behind Claude, has infringed on 274 of the rock legend’s copyrighted songs, including famous hits like “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “A Little Less Conversation” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”
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“The Elvis plaintiffs bring this action to enforce these exclusive rights against the defendants, who have built their entire business model on the basis of copyright infringement on a scale never seen before,” he writes. richard bushThe main lawyer behind the lawsuit. “Elvis plaintiffs deeply protect these iconic songs.”
Although music companies like Universal Music Group have already repeatedly sued AI companies for theft of their IP, the new lawsuit represents the most high-profile legal action ever filed on behalf of an individual musician – in this case, arguably the most famous recording artist of all time.
The case was filed by a unit of Authentic Brands Group, the licensing giant that largely controls Elvis’ intellectual property rights, including most of his song catalog, his brand trademarks, and the rights to his name, image and likeness. It was co-filed by various other entities that own the Elvis rights.
Like other AI firms, Anthropic is already facing multiple lawsuits over the process of “training” its models to create new ones, including copying millions of existing tasks without permission. AI companies say the process is protected by copyright fair use protections, but the issue is pending in dozens of lawsuits – with billions of dollars in potential damages at stake.
Litigation over AI music focuses more on major AI song generator Listen, which was sued by all three major music companies in 2024 over such training allegations. It finally settled with Warner Music Group last year and vowed to partner with the music industry, but still faces a controversial lawsuit from UMG and Sony Music. Anthropic, a very large AI firm, has faced similar cases in creative industries, including music publishers.
Friday’s new case largely mirrors those earlier cases, claiming Anthropic illegally used music to create technology that creates “unlicensed derivative works.” But it focuses on what Elvis aficionados call “some of the most groundbreaking, revolutionary, influential and enduring musical compositions in the history of mankind.”
It includes “Can’t Help”, possibly Presley’s best-known song, “Don’t Be Cruel”, one of his early big hits, and “Little Lace”, which saw a resurgence in popularity due to a 2000s remix. The lawsuit also cites “All Shook Up,” “Return to Sender” and “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise.”
A representative for Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Bush is no stranger to high-profile music matters. He represented Eminem in landmark digital download cases in the 2000s, and later represented the estate of Marvin Gaye in a famous copyright case against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, ultimately winning a much-disputed verdict that his “Blurred Lines” infringed Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up”.
