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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its intention to claim a portion of earnings from a track it claims was produced using an AI "replica" of the performer's distinctive voice.

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

Despite its success and impending chart position in both UK and US, the song was later removed by leading music services after industry organizations sent takedown notices, stating it breached copyright by impersonating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial recording was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking financial redress.

A Larger Principle at Stake

"The situation is not only about Jorja. It's bigger than a single performer or one song," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM also stated its view that "each versions of the song infringe on the artist's legal rights and unjustly benefit from the work of all the songwriters with whom she works."

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

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

Producers Admit Using AI Technology

The duo behind the song have publicly confirmed using AI in its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation software Suno, sometimes called the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and produced the music themselves and have even provided files of their original production sessions.

"This shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"As a creator and maker, I like using new tools, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Broader Impact

Although their original version of 'I Run' was suspended from official charts, the replacement recording did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a critical test case for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"Computer-created material should be clearly identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they listen to it or not," the message continued.

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own social media profile.

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

It further stated that the label would share any potential songwriting credits with the collaborators behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are able in establishing that AI helped to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would seek to assign every one of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Rise of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of streams before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US genre sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not always opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, but those legal actions have now been settled.

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

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

Recently, a group of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed revisions to copyright law.

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