Anthropic's New Plugins and $3 Billion Lawsuit

Summary of Anthropic's New Plugins and $3 Billion Lawsuit

by The Jaeden Schafer Podcast

10m•January 30, 2026
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Overview of The Jaeden Schafer Podcast

This episode covers two big Anthropic stories: the product expansion (Co‑work + new plugins) and a major copyright lawsuit from music publishers seeking roughly $3 billion. Host Jaeden Schafer explains the new features, how they fit into enterprise workflows, and breaks down the legal claims and their context — including a prior litigation history involving Anthropic and allegedly pirated training data. The host also plugs his startup, AIbox.ai, as a multi‑model access tool.

Anthropic product update: Co‑work and plugins

  • What Co‑work is

    • A non‑developer, general‑purpose version of Anthropic’s Cloud Code agent tooling aimed at broader users and enterprises.
    • Designed to let non‑technical teams run agentic automations for repeatable workflows.

  • Plugins: what they do

    • Automate specialized tasks across departments (marketing copy, legal risk review, customer support replies, sales workflows).
    • Define how work should be done, what tools/data sources to use, and how critical workflows are handled.
    • Intentionally customizable so enterprises can build tailored use cases.
    • Claimed benefits: consistent outputs, faster repeatable work, and improved alignment between teams and customer feedback.

  • Deployment & availability

    • Anthropic open‑sourced 11 internal plugins as part of the launch.
    • Custom plugins are described as easy to build/edit/share, even for non‑developers.
    • Plugins were previously part of Cloud Code; now ported into Co‑work for a more user‑friendly, UI‑centric experience.
    • Current state (per episode): Co‑work launched in research preview about two weeks prior; plugins are accessible to paying Claude customers. Plugins are currently saved locally; organization‑wide sharing is planned.

  • Host observations

    • The more a company uses plugins, the more Claude can learn about and optimize internal workflows.
    • Sales teams inside Anthropic reportedly showed strong internal adoption.
    • The host frames this as a significant expansion of Claude’s functionality to a broader audience.

Legal story: music publishers suing Anthropic

  • Who sued and what they allege

    • A group of music publishers led by Concord and Universal Music Group filed suit against Anthropic.
    • Allegation: Anthropic illegally downloaded over ~20,000 copyrighted works (sheet music, lyrics, musical compositions).
    • Damages sought: reportedly in excess of $3 billion.

  • Context and procedural background

    • The same legal team (per the episode) was involved in an earlier authors’ lawsuit against Anthropic alleging piracy of copyrighted books.
    • During discovery the publishers claim they found more allegedly downloaded works, expanding the scope from an original ~500 works to thousands, prompting a separate lawsuit after amendment attempts were denied.

  • Prior related ruling and penalties (as discussed on the show)

    • The host recounts an earlier case where a judge ruled training on copyrighted material can be lawful, but acquiring content via piracy is not.
    • Anthropic was described as having initially downloaded pirated books, later buying and scanning many books; that matter resulted in a multi‑hundred‑million to billion‑scale penalty (host cites $1.5B and payments to authors).
    • The new music lawsuit names Anthropic executives (CEO and cofounder mentioned) in addition to the company.

  • Host perspective on the lawsuit

    • Skeptical that the publishers will collect the full $3B for ~20,000 lyrics; calls the amount “ludicrous.”
    • Suggests lawyers are aggressively pursuing big damages and that some of this is driven by litigation opportunities around AI’s training data.
    • Reiterates that AI companies should pay for data and train responsibly, but anticipates continued legal battles as part of the AI “gold rush.”

Key takeaways

  • Product:

    • Anthropic is expanding Claude’s reach by bringing Cloud Code–style plugins to a general audience through Co‑work, prioritizing enterprise workflows and customizability.
    • Plugins could significantly boost internal automation and become more powerful as they learn company‑specific workflows.
    • Currently in research preview; plugins available to paying customers and local saves; org‑wide sharing planned.

  • Legal:

    • Anthropic faces a high‑stakes copyright suit from major music publishers alleging large‑scale unauthorized downloads; claimed damages exceed $3B.
    • This follows earlier litigation over allegedly pirated book data; there’s precedent that piracy to acquire training data can trigger heavy penalties.
    • The host expects continued legal scrutiny of AI training practices and doubts the full damages sought will be awarded.

Notable quotes from the episode

  • On plugins: “Plugins are basically intentionally built to be customizable… enterprise customers are going to develop their own use cases.”
  • On the lawsuit: “To me, I don’t think this one’s going to do as well… $3 billion for 20,000 lyrics feels ludicrous.”

Practical next steps (if you care about testing Anthropic / other models)

  • Try plugins/Co‑work if you’re an enterprise user and want customizable agent automations for team workflows.
  • If you want side‑by‑side access to multiple top models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.), the host recommends trying AIbox.ai (promotional mention).

This summary captures the episode’s product news and legal analysis, plus the host’s views and practical recommendations.