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The music company representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to claim a portion of royalties from a song it asserts was created using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the performer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, gained massive traction on social media in October, in part due to its polished soul vocals by an uncredited female vocalist.

Despite its success and impending top 40 position in the UK and US, the track was subsequently banned by major music services after industry bodies issued copyright notices, stating it violated copyright by imitating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has now been re-released with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the initial version was made with AI programmed on her extensive recordings and is now seeking financial redress.

A Broader Principle in Play

"This isn't just about one artist. This is larger than a single performer or one song," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM further expressed its view that "both iterations of the song infringe on the artist's 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 named British Female Solo Artist at the prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her supporters were potentially misled by Haven's first track, the label added: "We must not permit this to be the new normal."

Creators Admit Employing AI Tools

The duo behind the song have openly confirmed using AI during its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively manipulated using music-generation software Suno, often called the "ChatGPT for music".

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

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

"This is no secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I like using new tools, methods and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

"In order to set the facts straight, the people behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we want to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Broader Implications

While their first release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the replacement version did break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has framed the incident as a critical precedent for the music industry's evolving relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and significantly exceeding legal oversight".

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

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

Smith shared her label's position on her personal Instagram page.

The text warned that musicians and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

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

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

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of streams before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not always opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for copyright infringement by the world's major biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been settled.

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

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

Recently, a group of prominent artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed revisions to intellectual property regulations.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to develop models using protected work without securing a license.