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

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, gained widespread traction on social media in October, partly due to its polished soul vocals by an uncredited female singer.

Although its momentum and potential top 40 position in the UK and US, the track was later removed by leading music services after industry bodies sent copyright notices, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the original recording was generated with AI trained on her body of recordings and is now pursuing appropriate compensation.

A Broader Issue at Stake

"This is not only about one artist. It's bigger than a single performer or one song," the label stated in a recent announcement.

FAMM further stated its view that "both versions of the track violate the artist's legal rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all the writers with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's original release, the label added: "We must not permit this to be the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

The duo behind the track have openly admitted using AI during its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original vocals were actually his own but were heavily altered using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and produced the song themselves and have even provided evidence of their source production sessions.

"This shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-powered vocal editing to convert exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"As a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the forefront of industry trends," he added.

"To set the facts clear, the people behind HAVEN are actual and people, and all we aim to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Industry Implications

Although 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 precedent for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "a duty to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and substantially exceeding legal oversight".

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

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her personal social media profile.

The text warned that musicians and creators were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by governments and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

It further stated that the label would distribute any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's music.

"Should we are able in proving that AI assisted to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to assign every one of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Continuing Growth of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to help develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US genre digital song sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not always averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for copyright infringement by the world's three biggest record labels, but those legal actions have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will allow users to create songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the program.

Yet, it is unclear how many established musicians will consent to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of renowned artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in protest to proposed revisions to copyright law.

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