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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to claim a share of royalties from a song it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's unique vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, achieved widespread traction on social media last October, in part due to its smooth soul vocals by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its momentum and potential chart entry in both UK and US, the track was subsequently removed by major streaming platforms after industry organizations issued takedown requests, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial version was made with AI trained on her body of work and is now seeking financial redress.

A Larger Principle at Stake

"The situation isn't just about Jorja. It's bigger than a single performer or a single track," the label stated in a recent announcement.

FAMM also stated its view that "both versions of the track violate the artist's rights and unjustly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her fans were possibly misled by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "Our industry must not permit this to be the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Using AI Tools

The team behind the track have openly admitted using AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the initial vocals were in fact his own but were heavily altered using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they composed and produced the song themselves and have even provided evidence of their source computer files.

"It is no secret that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a creator and maker, I like using new tools, techniques and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

"To set the record clear, the people behind HAVEN are actual and people, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Industry Implications

Although their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the new recording managed to enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a significant precedent for the entertainment sector's changing relationship with AI.

The label argued it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing regulation".

"AI-generated content should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they listen to it or not," the message continued.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own Instagram page.

The post warned that musicians and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

It also noted that the label would distribute any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI assisted to compose 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 pro-rata share," it explained.

The Continuing Growth of AI Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both fascination and anxiety for the entertainment world.

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of streams before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust led a US genre digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not always averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the industry's major largest record labels, though those cases have now been settled.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to create songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

However, it remains uncertain how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such uses of their work.

Just last week, a collective of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing silent songs or audio of quiet studios in protest to potential changes to copyright law.

They argue these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to develop systems using copyrighted work without securing a permission.