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The music company representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its desire to claim a portion of earnings from a song it asserts was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the singer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, gained massive traction on social media last October, partly due to its polished soul singing by an unnamed female singer.

Despite its momentum and impending chart position in both UK and US, the track was later removed by major music services after music organizations issued takedown requests, stating it violated copyright by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the initial version was made with AI programmed on her extensive recordings and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

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

FAMM further expressed its view that "each iterations of the track violate the artist's rights and unjustly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "Our industry must not allow this to become the standard practice."

Producers Admit Using AI Tools

The duo behind the track have publicly admitted utilizing AI during its creation.

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

Meanwhile, the other producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "apply our starting vocal a female quality".

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

"It shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"As a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using new tools, techniques and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Impact

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from major rankings, the replacement version did break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a critical precedent for the music industry's evolving interaction with AI.

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially exceeding legal oversight".

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

Artists as 'Collateral Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her personal social media page.

The post cautioned that musicians and songwriters were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by policymakers and tech firms towards AI dominance".

It further stated that the label would distribute any potential songwriting credits with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are able in proving that AI assisted to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would aim to allocate each of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Continuing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both interest and consternation for the music industry.

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not always averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the world's three largest record labels, though those cases have since been settled.

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

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

Just last week, a group of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing silent songs or recordings of empty studios in protest to potential changes to intellectual property regulations.

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