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

The track, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, achieved massive traction on TikTok last October, partly due to its smooth R&B singing by an unnamed woman singer.

Despite its momentum and impending chart position in the UK and US, the song was later removed by major music services after industry organizations sent copyright notices, stating it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now been reissued with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the original version was made with AI programmed on her body of work and is now seeking appropriate compensation.

A Broader Issue at Stake

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

FAMM also expressed its view that "each versions of the track violate Jorja's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of the work of all the songwriters with whom she works."

Known for songs like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned British Female Solo Artist at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "We cannot permit this to be the new normal."

Creators Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

The team behind the song have openly confirmed using AI in its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker clarified that the initial voice were in fact his own but were extensively altered using AI music platform Suno, sometimes called 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 starting vocal a feminine tone".

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

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

"As a creator and maker, I enjoy using innovative technologies, techniques and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

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

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Impact

While their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from major charts, the replacement recording managed to enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

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

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

Artists as 'Collateral Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her own social media page.

The text warned that musicians and creators were turning into "collateral damage in the competition by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

It further stated that the label would distribute any potential songwriting credits with the collaborators behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are able in establishing that AI helped to write the lyrics and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US country sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily opposed to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the world's three biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will enable users to generate songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the program.

However, it remains unclear how a large number of established musicians will agree to such uses 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 tracks of silence or recordings of empty studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

They contend these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to develop systems using protected work without securing a permission.