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The music company representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its desire to receive a share of earnings from a song it asserts was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved widespread popularity on social media in October, in part due to its smooth R&B vocals by an unnamed woman singer.

Despite its momentum and impending chart position in both UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by leading streaming platforms after industry bodies sent copyright notices, stating it breached copyright by impersonating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial recording was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking appropriate compensation.

A Larger Principle in Play

"The situation isn't just about one artist. This is larger than a single performer or one song," the label stated in a public statement.

FAMM also stated its view that "each iterations of the track infringe on the artist's rights and unjustly benefit from the creative output of all the writers with whom she works."

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

Implying that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "Our industry must not allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Admit Employing AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have publicly admitted using AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the original vocals were in fact his own but were extensively altered using music-generation platform Suno, sometimes called the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the second member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "apply our starting vocal a female quality".

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

"This is no secret that I used AI-assisted vocal editing to convert exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a creator and producer, I enjoy using new tools, methods and staying on the cutting edge of industry trends," he continued.

"To set the record straight, the people behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we want to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Impact

While their first version of 'I Run' was suspended from official charts, the replacement recording managed to break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has framed the incident as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing legal oversight".

"Computer-created material should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they consume it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Collateral Victims'

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

The post warned that artists and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the race by governments and corporations towards AI supremacy".

It further stated that the label would share any awarded royalties with the collaborators behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are able in proving that AI helped to write the words and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to assign each of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Continuing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US country digital song sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not necessarily averse to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's major largest record labels, though those cases have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to generate songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner artists who agree to the program.

However, it is uncertain how many established musicians will agree to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed changes to intellectual property regulations.

They contend these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to train models using protected work without securing a license.