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The music company representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to receive a share of royalties from a song it asserts was created using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's unique voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved massive popularity on TikTok last October, in part due to its smooth soul singing by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Despite its success and potential chart entry in both UK and US, the track was later removed by major music services after music bodies issued takedown requests, alleging it breached copyright by impersonating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original version was generated with AI programmed on her body of recordings and is now seeking financial redress.

A Larger Issue at Stake

"This isn't just about Jorja. It's bigger than a single performer or one song," the label stated in a recent statement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "each iterations of the track infringe on Jorja's rights and unjustly benefit from the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

Famous for songs like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned Best British Female at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her fans were possibly deceived by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "Our industry must not allow this to be the new normal."

Creators Admit Employing AI Technology

The team responsible for the track have publicly confirmed utilizing AI in its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using AI music software Suno, often called the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even shared evidence of their original production sessions.

"This shouldn't be secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"As a creator and producer, I enjoy using new tools, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of industry trends," he continued.

"To set the record straight, the artists behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we want to do is make great music for other humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Impact

While their first release of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the replacement version did enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has framed the incident as a significant precedent for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated material should be transparently labelled as such so that the public may choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Creators Become 'Collateral Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her own social media page.

The post warned that musicians and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

It further noted that the label would distribute any potential royalties with the collaborators behind Smith's music.

"If we are successful in establishing that AI helped to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would aim to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

The proliferation of AI-generated music has been a topic of both fascination and consternation for the music industry.

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid develop their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US country sales chart, showing that audiences are not always averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's three largest record labels, but those cases have since been settled.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the company, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the program.

Yet, it remains uncertain how a large number of established musicians will agree to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of renowned artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed changes to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to develop models using protected work without securing a permission.