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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its intention to receive a portion of royalties from a track it claims was created using an AI "clone" of the performer's distinctive vocal style.

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

Although its success and impending top 40 entry in the UK and US, the track was later removed by major streaming platforms after music organizations sent copyright requests, alleging it breached copyright by impersonating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has since been reissued with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the original recording was made with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking financial compensation.

A Larger Principle in Play

"This is not only about one artist. This is larger than one artist or a single track," the label wrote in a recent statement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "each iterations of the song infringe on Jorja's rights and unfairly benefit from the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were potentially deceived by Haven's first track, the label added: "Our industry must not permit this to become the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Technology

The team behind the song have openly admitted using AI during its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker clarified that the original voice were in fact his own but were extensively manipulated using AI music platform Suno, sometimes called the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a feminine tone".

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

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

"As a creator and producer, I enjoy experimenting with new tools, methods and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he continued.

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

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Implications

Although their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the replacement recording did break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a significant test case for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and significantly exceeding legal oversight".

"Computer-created material should be transparently identified as such so that the public may decide whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Creators Become 'Unintended Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her own Instagram page.

The text cautioned that musicians and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

It also stated that the label would share any awarded songwriting credits with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are successful in establishing that AI assisted to compose 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 Rise of AI Music

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

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of streams before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not necessarily averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, but those cases have now been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership 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.

Yet, it is uncertain how many well-known musicians will agree to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a group of prominent musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or recordings of empty studios in opposition to proposed revisions to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to train systems using copyrighted work without securing a permission.