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The music company representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its desire to claim a portion of royalties from a song it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's distinctive voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained massive traction on social media in October, in part due to its smooth R&B singing by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its success and potential chart entry in both UK and US, the song was later removed by major music services after music bodies sent copyright notices, alleging it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now been re-released with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original recording was made with AI programmed on her extensive work and is now seeking appropriate compensation.

A Larger Issue at Stake

"This isn't just about one artist. This is bigger than one artist or a single track," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "each iterations of the song infringe on the artist's rights and unjustly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her fans were possibly misled by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "We cannot permit this to become the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Using AI Tools

The team behind the track have publicly admitted utilizing AI during its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the original voice were actually his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, sometimes referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a female tone".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and produced the song themselves and have even provided files of their source computer files.

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

"Being a songwriter and maker, I like using new tools, methods and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he continued.

"In order 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."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Industry Implications

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

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

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing regulation".

"Computer-created content should be clearly identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they listen to it or not," the message continued.

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

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

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

It also noted that the label would distribute any potential songwriting credits with the collaborators behind Smith's music.

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

The Continuing Rise of AI Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a topic of both interest and anxiety for the music industry.

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered millions of streams before disclosing they used AI to help develop their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not always opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued for alleged violations by the industry's three largest record labels, though those cases have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to create songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner artists who agree to the service.

Yet, it is unclear how many established musicians will consent to such uses of their work.

Just last week, a group of renowned artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring silent songs or recordings of empty studios in protest to potential changes to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it easier for AI companies to train models using copyrighted work without obtaining a license.