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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to claim a portion of earnings from a song it asserts was created using an AI "replica" of the performer's unique vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained widespread traction on social media in October, partly due to its polished soul singing by an unnamed female singer.

Although its success and impending top 40 entry in both UK and US, the track was subsequently removed by leading music services after music bodies issued copyright notices, alleging it violated copyright by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now 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 work and is now pursuing appropriate compensation.

A Broader Principle in Play

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

FAMM further expressed its view that "both versions of the song infringe on the artist's legal rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

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

Producers Admit Using AI Tools

The duo responsible for the track have openly admitted using AI during its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker clarified that the initial voice were actually his own but were extensively altered using AI music software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

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

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the music themselves and have even shared files of their source computer files.

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

"As a creator and maker, I enjoy experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

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

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Implications

While their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the replacement recording did break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a significant test case for the music industry's changing interaction with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"Computer-created material should be transparently labelled as such so that the public may choose 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 page.

The text warned that artists and songwriters were becoming "collateral damage in the race by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

It further noted that the label would distribute any awarded songwriting credits with the collaborators behind Smith's music.

"Should we are able in establishing that AI helped to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Rise 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 accumulated vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued 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 partnership with the company, which will enable users to create songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner acts who opt in to the program.

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

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

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to train systems using protected work without securing a permission.