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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its intention to receive a portion of royalties from a track it asserts was created using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's distinctive voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained widespread traction on social media last October, partly due to its smooth R&B singing by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its momentum and potential chart entry in the UK and US, the track was later banned by major music services after music organizations sent takedown requests, stating it violated intellectual property law by imitating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has now been reissued with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the initial recording was generated with AI programmed on her body of recordings and is now pursuing appropriate compensation.

A Broader Principle in Play

"The situation is not only about one artist. This is bigger than a single performer or one song," the label stated in a public announcement.

FAMM also stated its view that "both iterations of the track infringe on the artist's legal rights and unjustly 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 prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "We must not allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Admit Employing AI Tools

The team responsible for the track have openly confirmed utilizing AI in its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the original voice were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using AI music software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

In addition, the other producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and created the music themselves and have even shared files of their source computer files.

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

"As a songwriter and producer, I enjoy experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

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

Legal Gray Areas and Industry Impact

While their original release of 'I Run' was suspended from official rankings, the new version managed to enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's changing relationship with AI.

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

"AI-generated content should be clearly identified as such so that the public may choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

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

The text warned that artists and songwriters were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

It further noted that the label would share any potential songwriting credits with the writers behind Smith's music.

"Should we are able in establishing that AI assisted to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to assign each of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of AI Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a source of both fascination and consternation for the music industry.

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre digital song sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the industry's three biggest record labels, though those legal actions have now been resolved.

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

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

Recently, a collective of prominent artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing silent songs or recordings of quiet studios in protest to potential changes to copyright law.

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