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

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, gained massive traction on TikTok in October, in part due to its smooth R&B singing by an uncredited woman singer.

Although its success and impending top 40 position in the UK and US, the song was subsequently removed by leading music services after industry bodies sent takedown requests, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating 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 financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

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

FAMM further expressed its view that "both versions of the track violate the artist's legal rights and unjustly benefit from 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 prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "We cannot allow this to be the new normal."

Creators Admit Using AI Tools

The duo behind the track have openly admitted utilizing AI in its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were actually his own but were extensively altered using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even provided evidence of their source production sessions.

"It shouldn't be secret that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to transform exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a creator and producer, I like using new tools, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of industry trends," he added.

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

Legal Uncertainty and Industry Implications

Although their first release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the replacement version managed to break into the UK Top 40 last week.

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

The label stated it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and significantly exceeding regulation".

"AI-generated material should be clearly identified as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

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

The post warned that musicians and creators were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are able in establishing that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would seek to assign each of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Continuing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both fascination and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not always opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued for alleged violations by the industry's major biggest record labels, though those legal actions have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a collaboration with the company, which will allow users to create songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the program.

However, it is unclear how a large number of well-known artists will consent to such uses of their identity.

Recently, a group of prominent artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in protest to potential revisions to copyright law.

They argue these changes would make it easier for AI companies to develop models using copyrighted work without obtaining a license.