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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to receive a share of earnings from a track it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, achieved widespread popularity on TikTok last October, partly due to its polished soul vocals by an uncredited female vocalist.

Although its success and impending chart entry in the UK and US, the track was later banned by major streaming platforms after industry organizations issued takedown notices, alleging it breached copyright by imitating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the original version was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Larger Issue in Play

"The situation is not only about Jorja. It's larger than one artist or one song," the label stated in a public announcement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "both iterations of the track infringe on Jorja's legal rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were possibly misled by Haven's first release, the label added: "We must not permit this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Employing AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have openly admitted utilizing AI in its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using AI music platform Suno, sometimes referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

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

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

"This shouldn't be secret that I used AI-powered vocal editing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

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

"To set the facts 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 Broader Implications

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

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a significant precedent for the music industry's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing regulation".

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

Artists as 'Collateral Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her personal Instagram page.

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

It also noted that the label would share any awarded royalties with the writers behind Smith's music.

"Should we are able in establishing that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would seek to assign every one of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Growth of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US genre digital song sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not always opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the industry's three biggest record labels, though 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 agree to the program.

Yet, it is uncertain how a large number of well-known musicians will agree to such applications of their identity.

Recently, a collective of renowned artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

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