In a significant legal development, AI company Anthropic has responded to music publishers' preliminary injunction request with a 40-page rebuttal, asserting that using copyrighted content for AI training constitutes fair use.

The dispute began when Universal Music, Concord, and ABKCO filed a lawsuit claiming Anthropic infringed their copyrights by using their compositions without permission for AI training. They also alleged that Anthropic's Claude AI assistant reproduced song lyrics verbatim without attribution.

Key points from Anthropic's response:

• Training large language models (LLMs) on protected media qualifies as fair use
• Publishers haven't demonstrated irreparable harm
• Similar cases nationwide proceed without preliminary injunctions
• Anthropic attempted to implement additional safeguards
• Song lyrics are not among typical user requests

Notably, Anthropic argues that requiring licenses for AI training would make general-purpose AI tools impossible:

"One could not enter licensing transactions with enough rights owners to cover the billions of texts necessary to yield the trillions of tokens that general-purpose LLMs require for proper training."

Additional defense points include:

• Venue challenge (no relevant connection to Tennessee)
• Attribution of alleged infringement to plaintiffs themselves
• Argument that monetary damages would suffice if plaintiffs prevail

This case represents a crucial battle in the ongoing debate over AI training methods and copyright law, with potential industry-wide implications for AI development and creative rights.

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