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The record label representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its desire to claim a portion of royalties from a song it claims was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the performer's unique voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved widespread traction on TikTok in October, partly due to its polished R&B singing by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Despite its success and impending chart position in both UK and US, the song was later removed by major music services after industry bodies sent copyright requests, stating it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has now been reissued with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial version was generated with AI trained on her extensive recordings and is now seeking appropriate redress.

A Broader Issue at Stake

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

FAMM further stated its view that "each versions of the track infringe on the artist's rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "We cannot permit this to be the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Using AI Tools

The team behind the song have openly confirmed utilizing AI during its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the original vocals were in fact his own but were heavily altered using AI music software Suno, sometimes called the "ChatGPT for music".

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

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

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

"As a songwriter and maker, I enjoy experimenting with new tools, methods and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he continued.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Impact

While their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from major rankings, the replacement recording managed to break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a critical test case for the music industry's changing relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and substantially exceeding legal oversight".

"Computer-created material should be transparently labelled as such so that the audience may decide whether they consume it or not," the message added.

Creators Become 'Unintended Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her own social media page.

The text warned that musicians and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are successful in proving that AI assisted to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would seek to allocate every one of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered millions of streams before disclosing they used AI to help develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US country digital song sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued for copyright infringement by the industry's major biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to create songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the service.

Yet, it remains uncertain how a large number of established musicians will agree to such uses of their identity.

Recently, a group of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in opposition to proposed changes to intellectual property regulations.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to develop models using copyrighted work without obtaining a permission.