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The record label representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to receive a portion of earnings from a song it asserts was created using an AI "clone" of the singer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, gained massive traction on TikTok in October, partly due to its polished R&B vocals by an uncredited woman singer.

Despite its success and impending top 40 position in the UK and US, the track was subsequently banned by major streaming platforms after music bodies sent copyright requests, stating it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

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

A Broader Issue at Stake

"The situation isn't just about one artist. It's bigger than a single performer or one song," the label stated in a recent statement.

FAMM further expressed its belief that "each iterations of the track violate Jorja's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her fans were possibly misled by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "We must not allow this to be the new normal."

Producers Admit Using AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have publicly admitted utilizing AI in its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, often called the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine tone".

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

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

"As a creator and maker, I like experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the cutting edge of industry trends," he continued.

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

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Implications

While their original version of 'I Run' was suspended from official rankings, the new recording did enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a significant test case for the music industry's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated content should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the message added.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

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

The post warned that artists and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the competition by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI helped to write the words and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to allocate each of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

The proliferation of AI-generated music has been a topic of both fascination and consternation for the music industry.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of streams before revealing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner acts who agree to the service.

Yet, it remains uncertain how many well-known artists will consent to such applications of their work.

Just last week, a collective of prominent musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing silent songs or recordings of empty studios in opposition to potential revisions to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these changes would make it easier for AI companies to train systems using protected work without obtaining a permission.