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The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its intention to receive a share of earnings from a song it asserts was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the performer's distinctive voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained massive popularity on TikTok last October, partly due to its smooth soul vocals by an unnamed female vocalist.

Despite its momentum and impending chart entry in both UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by major music services after music organizations issued takedown requests, stating it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been re-released with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the original recording was generated with AI trained on her extensive recordings and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

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

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

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

Implying that her supporters were possibly misled by Haven's first track, the label added: "Our industry cannot allow this to be the standard practice."

Creators Admit Employing AI Technology

The team responsible for the track have openly admitted utilizing AI during its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the original vocals were in fact his own but were heavily altered using music-generation software Suno, often called the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they composed and produced the music themselves and have even provided files of their source production sessions.

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

"As a creator and producer, I like using new tools, methods and staying on the cutting edge of industry trends," he continued.

"In order to set the record clear, the people behind HAVEN are actual and human, and all we aim to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Implications

While their original version of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the replacement version managed to 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 argued it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated content should be transparently labelled as such so that the public may choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her personal social media profile.

The text cautioned that musicians and songwriters were turning into "collateral damage in the race by policymakers and tech firms towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are able in establishing that AI assisted to write the lyrics and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to allocate every one of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Continuing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of streams before revealing they used AI to aid develop their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not always opposed to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, though those legal actions have now been resolved.

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

However, it is unclear how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of empty studios in protest to proposed revisions to intellectual property regulations.

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