A song that features the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, created using artificial intelligence (AI), has gone viral on social media. The song, called Heart On My Sleeve, uses software trained on the voices of the musicians to simulate a track where the two stars are trading verses about Selena Gomez. Despite not being perfect, with some of the vocals sounding glitchy and slurred, the song has been viewed over 8.5 million times on TikTok and played 254,000 times on Spotify. However, the song has been removed from Spotify, Apple, TikTok, Deezer, and Tidal, following accusations of copyright violations from Universal Music Group (UMG), the record label representing both artists.

UMG claims the song is “both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law”, and warns that streaming platforms have a “legal and ethical responsibility” to ensure that the use of generative AI does not harm artists. The label had already written to streaming services, asking them to prevent AI companies from accessing their libraries. The rapid rise of AI-generated music has rattled the music industry, with concerns that the technology could “erode” human creativity.

While some DJs, such as David Guetta, have used AI technology to mimic the voices of other artists, he sees it as just another tool that cannot replace taste. AI-generated music is a controversial issue. A broad coalition of musicians and artists have launched a “Human Artistry Campaign” to advocate AI best practices, stressing that copyright protection should only be afforded to music created by humans. The Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr has stated, “It’s crucial that we get this right early on so we don’t risk losing the artistic magic that only humans can create”.

Although Heart On My Sleeve does not infringe copyright, as it appears to be an entirely original composition, the song has stirred up the music industry. The author of the song made it explicit that Drake and The Weeknd were not involved in its making, which should protect them from a “passing off” claim where they profit from misleading the audience into believing it is genuine. The AI technology has led to faked tracks that have gone viral recently, including a “deepfake” of Rihanna singing Beyoncé’s Cuff It, and a cloned Kanye West singing the acoustic ballad Hey There, Delilah.

Drake expressed displeasure at his voice being cloned after he stumbled across a fan-made video in which he appeared to be rapping. Neither he nor The Weeknd have responded to Heart On My Sleeve yet.