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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to receive a portion of earnings from a song it claims was created using an AI "clone" of the singer's unique vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained widespread traction on TikTok last October, in part due to its polished R&B singing by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Despite its success and impending chart entry in both UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by leading music services after industry bodies sent copyright notices, alleging it violated copyright by imitating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has now been re-released with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the initial version was made with AI trained on her body of work and is now seeking financial compensation.

A Broader Principle at Stake

"The situation isn't just about Jorja. This is bigger than one artist or a single track," the label stated in a public announcement.

FAMM further expressed its belief that "each versions of the track infringe on the artist's legal rights and unjustly benefit from the creative output of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were potentially deceived by Haven's original track, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Using AI Tools

The duo behind the track have publicly confirmed using AI in its creation.

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

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

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they composed and produced the music themselves and have even provided evidence of their original computer files.

"It is no mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal editing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy experimenting with innovative technologies, methods and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

"In order to set the facts clear, the artists behind HAVEN are actual and human, and all we want to do is make great music for other humans."

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Implications

While their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from major rankings, the replacement recording did break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the incident as a critical test case for the music industry's evolving interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and significantly outpacing regulation".

"AI-generated material should be transparently labelled as such so that the audience may decide whether they consume it or not," the statement continued.

Creators Become 'Collateral Damage'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own social media profile.

The text cautioned that musicians and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

It further stated that the label would share any potential songwriting credits with the writers behind Smith's music.

"If we are successful in proving that AI assisted to write the lyrics and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would aim to allocate every one of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both fascination and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the world's three largest record labels, but those legal actions have now been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the company, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

Yet, it is uncertain how many well-known musicians will consent to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

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