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The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its intention to claim a portion of earnings from a song it asserts was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the performer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved massive popularity on social media in October, in part due to its polished R&B singing by an uncredited female vocalist.

Despite its success and impending chart position in the UK and US, the song was later removed by major streaming platforms after industry organizations sent copyright notices, stating it violated copyright by imitating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original version was made with AI programmed on her body of work and is now seeking financial redress.

A Broader Principle in Play

"The situation is not only about one artist. It's larger than one artist or a single track," the label stated in a recent announcement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "each versions of the song violate the artist's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "Our industry cannot allow this to become the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Technology

The team responsible for the song have openly confirmed utilizing AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were actually his own but were extensively manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even provided files of their original computer files.

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

"Being a songwriter and producer, I like using new tools, techniques and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Broader Impact

While their original release of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the replacement version did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical test case for the entertainment sector's evolving relationship with AI.

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

"Computer-created content should be clearly labelled as such so that the public may choose whether they consume it or not," the message added.

Creators Become 'Collateral Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her personal Instagram profile.

The text cautioned that musicians and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"If we are successful in proving that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Continuing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of streams before revealing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre digital song sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not always averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the industry's major largest record labels, though those cases have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music established a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to create songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner acts who agree to the program.

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

Recently, a collective of renowned musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed revisions to copyright law.

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