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

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, gained widespread popularity on TikTok in October, partly due to its smooth soul singing by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Although its success and potential chart position in the UK and US, the song was later banned by leading streaming platforms after industry organizations issued takedown notices, alleging it violated intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now been reissued with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original version was made with AI trained on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial compensation.

A Broader Principle at Stake

"The situation isn't just about Jorja. This is larger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a public statement.

FAMM further expressed its belief that "both iterations of the song infringe on the artist's rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her supporters were possibly misled by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "We cannot allow this to become the new normal."

Creators Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

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

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were actually his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, sometimes called the "ChatGPT for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a feminine quality".

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

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

"As a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the cutting edge of what's happening," he added.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Impact

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

FAMM has framed the incident as a critical test case for the entertainment sector's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially exceeding regulation".

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

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

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 competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI helped to write the lyrics and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would seek to assign every one of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Continuing Rise of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before revealing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust topped a US genre digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the industry's three biggest record labels, though those legal actions have since been settled.

Following this, Warner Music established a collaboration with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner acts who agree to the program.

However, it is uncertain how a large number of well-known artists will consent to such uses of their work.

Just last week, a collective of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in protest to proposed revisions to copyright law.

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