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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its desire to receive a portion of royalties from a track it claims was created using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's distinctive voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, achieved massive popularity on TikTok last October, partly due to its smooth R&B vocals by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Although its momentum and impending chart position in the UK and US, the song was later removed by leading music services after industry bodies issued takedown notices, stating it breached intellectual property law by impersonating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now been re-released with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial version was made with AI programmed on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial compensation.

A Broader Principle in Play

"The situation is not only about one artist. It's bigger than a single performer or a single track," the label stated in a recent announcement.

FAMM also stated its view that "both iterations of the song violate the artist's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of 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.

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

Producers Admit Employing AI Technology

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

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

In addition, the second member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine tone".

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

"It shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-powered vocal editing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and maker, I enjoy using innovative technologies, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he added.

"In order to set the facts straight, the people behind HAVEN are actual and people, and all we want to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Implications

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the replacement version did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a significant test case for the music industry's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

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

Creators Become 'Collateral Damage'

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

The post cautioned that artists and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI supremacy".

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

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

The Ongoing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both interest and anxiety for the music industry.

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of streams before revealing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not always averse to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the world's major largest record labels, but those cases have since been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the company, which will allow users to create songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

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

Recently, a collective of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring silent songs or audio of empty studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

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