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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its desire to receive a portion of earnings from a song it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's unique vocal style.

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

Although its success and impending chart position in both UK and US, the song was later banned by major music services after music organizations sent copyright requests, stating it breached intellectual property law by impersonating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been re-released with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial recording was made with AI trained on her body of work and is now seeking financial compensation.

A Larger Principle in Play

"This is not only about one artist. It's larger than a single performer or a single track," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM further expressed its belief that "each iterations of the song violate Jorja's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she works."

Famous for hits 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 misled by Haven's first release, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Employing AI Technology

The team responsible for the song have openly admitted utilizing AI during its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were actually his own but were extensively manipulated using AI music software Suno, sometimes called the "ChatGPT for music".

In addition, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and produced the song themselves and have even shared files of their original production sessions.

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

"Being a songwriter and maker, I enjoy using new tools, methods and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

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

Legal Gray Areas and Industry Impact

Although their first release of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the new recording did enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a critical test case for the entertainment sector's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

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

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

Smith shared her label's statement on her personal Instagram profile.

The post warned that musicians and creators were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI supremacy".

It also noted that the label would distribute any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"Should we are able in proving that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and melody 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 corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of AI Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both interest and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of streams before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not necessarily averse to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's major largest record labels, but those legal actions have since been settled.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to generate songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner acts who opt in to the program.

Yet, it remains unclear how a large number of established artists will consent to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a group of renowned musicians including 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 copyright law.

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