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

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained widespread traction on TikTok last October, in part due to its polished soul vocals by an uncredited woman singer.

Despite its momentum and potential chart position in the UK and US, the song was later removed by leading music services after music organizations issued takedown requests, stating it violated copyright by imitating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has now been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original recording was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking appropriate redress.

A Broader Issue at Stake

"This isn't just about one artist. This is larger than one artist or a single track," the label stated in a public statement.

FAMM further expressed its view that "both iterations of the song violate the artist's legal rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she works."

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

Implying that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "Our industry must not allow this to be the new normal."

Creators Acknowledge Using AI Technology

The team behind the track have publicly confirmed utilizing AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original vocals were in fact his own but were extensively altered using music-generation platform Suno, often called the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "apply our starting vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the music themselves and have even shared files of their original computer files.

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

"As a creator and maker, I like experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

"To set the record straight, the artists behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we want to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Broader Impact

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from major charts, the new recording managed to break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical test case for the music industry's changing interaction with AI.

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

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

Artists as 'Collateral Victims'

Smith shared her label's position on her own Instagram profile.

The text warned that artists and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI supremacy".

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

"Should we are able in establishing that AI helped to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would aim to assign each of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise 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 help develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not always opposed to consuming AI-made music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's major biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been settled.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to create songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

However, it remains unclear how many established musicians will consent to such uses of their identity.

Recently, a group of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing silent songs or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed changes to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these amendments would make it easier for AI companies to train systems using copyrighted work without obtaining a license.