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The record label representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its desire to claim a portion of earnings from a track it claims was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the performer's distinctive voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, achieved massive popularity on social media in October, in part due to its smooth R&B vocals by an unnamed female singer.

Although its momentum and potential top 40 position in the UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by major music services after industry bodies issued copyright requests, stating it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has now been reissued with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial recording was generated with AI trained on her body of work and is now pursuing appropriate redress.

A Larger Issue at Stake

"This is not only about Jorja. This is larger than a single performer or one song," the label wrote in a recent statement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "each versions of the track violate the artist's rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "Our industry cannot allow this to become the standard practice."

Creators Admit Using AI Technology

The team behind the song have openly admitted utilizing AI in its creation.

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

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

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

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

"As a creator and producer, I enjoy experimenting with innovative technologies, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of industry trends," he continued.

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

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Implications

Although their first version of 'I Run' was suspended from official rankings, the new version did break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a significant test case for the entertainment sector's changing interaction with AI.

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

"Computer-created material should be clearly identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they listen to it or not," the message added.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own social media page.

The text warned that musicians and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

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

The Ongoing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before revealing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily averse to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued for copyright infringement by the industry's major biggest record labels, but those cases have now been resolved.

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

Yet, it is uncertain how a large number of well-known musicians will agree to such uses of their identity.

Recently, a collective of renowned artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of empty studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

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