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The record label representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its intention to receive a share of earnings from a song it claims was produced using an AI "clone" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, achieved massive traction on TikTok last October, in part due to its polished soul singing by an uncredited female vocalist.

Although its success and potential top 40 entry in both UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by major streaming platforms after industry bodies sent takedown notices, stating it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has now been reissued with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the original recording was made with AI programmed on her extensive recordings and is now pursuing appropriate redress.

A Broader Issue at Stake

"The situation isn't just about Jorja. It's bigger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "both iterations of the song violate the artist's rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's original release, the label added: "Our industry cannot allow this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Employing AI Technology

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

Producer Harrison Walker clarified that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using music-generation platform Suno, often called the "advanced tool for music".

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

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

"It is no mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to convert exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

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

Regulatory Uncertainty and Broader Impact

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the new recording managed to enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"AI-generated material should be clearly labelled as such so that the public may decide whether they consume it or not," the statement continued.

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

Smith shared her label's position on her personal social media profile.

The post cautioned that artists and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the competition by governments and corporations towards AI supremacy".

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

"If we are able in establishing that AI helped to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would seek to assign each of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

The proliferation of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both interest and anxiety for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of plays before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US country sales chart, showing that audiences are not always opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the world's major biggest record labels, but those cases have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the company, which will enable users to create songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

However, it remains uncertain how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed revisions to intellectual property regulations.

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