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The music company representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to receive a share of earnings from a track it asserts was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the performer's distinctive voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained widespread popularity on TikTok in October, in part due to its polished soul singing by an uncredited female singer.

Despite its success and potential top 40 position in both UK and US, the song was subsequently removed by major streaming platforms after music organizations sent copyright requests, stating it breached copyright by imitating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the original version was made with AI trained on her body of work and is now seeking financial redress.

A Larger Principle at Stake

"The situation is not only about Jorja. This is larger than one artist or a single track," the label stated in a recent statement.

FAMM also expressed its belief that "each versions of the song violate Jorja's rights and unjustly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her supporters were potentially deceived by Haven's first track, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Admit Using AI Technology

The team responsible for the track have openly admitted utilizing AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were actually his own but were heavily altered using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and produced the music themselves and have even shared evidence of their source computer files.

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

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using new tools, techniques and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

"To set the record clear, the artists behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Industry Implications

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from major charts, the new version did enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical test case for the entertainment sector's changing relationship with AI.

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"Computer-created material should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the message continued.

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her personal Instagram profile.

The text cautioned that artists and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the race by policymakers and tech firms towards AI dominance".

It further noted that the label would distribute any awarded songwriting credits with the writers behind Smith's music.

"If we are able in establishing that AI assisted to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to assign every one of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

The proliferation of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both fascination and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of streams before disclosing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US country digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the industry's major largest record labels, but those legal actions have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner acts who opt in to the service.

However, it remains unclear how a large number of established artists will agree to such applications of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing silent songs or audio of empty studios in opposition to potential changes to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to train systems using protected work without securing a permission.