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The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its desire to claim a portion of royalties from a track it asserts was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, gained widespread popularity on social media last October, in part due to its polished R&B vocals by an unnamed female singer.

Despite its success and impending chart entry in the UK and US, the song was later banned by leading streaming platforms after industry organizations sent copyright notices, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the initial recording was made with AI programmed on her body of work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Larger Issue in Play

"The situation is not only about Jorja. It's larger than one artist or a single track," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "each versions of the track violate the artist's rights and unjustly benefit from the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

Known for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned Best British Female at the prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her fans were potentially misled by Haven's original release, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

The team responsible for the track have openly confirmed using AI during its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker clarified that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using AI music platform Suno, sometimes called the "ChatGPT 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 feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even shared evidence of their original production sessions.

"This is no secret that I used AI-powered vocal editing to transform exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and maker, I like using new tools, techniques and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he continued.

"To set the facts straight, the people behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we want to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Regulatory Gray Areas and Broader Impact

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

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a critical test case for the music industry's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and significantly exceeding legal oversight".

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

Creators Become 'Collateral Victims'

Smith shared her label's position on her personal Instagram page.

The text cautioned that artists and songwriters were turning into "collateral damage in the race by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

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

"If we are successful in proving that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would seek to allocate every one of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust topped a US country sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's major largest record labels, though those legal actions have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the program.

However, it is unclear how many well-known artists will agree to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in protest to potential changes to copyright law.

They argue these changes would make it easier for AI companies to develop systems using protected work without securing a license.