A song that uses Artificial Intelligence to clone the voices of Drake and The Weeknd has gone viral on social media. Entitled ‘Heart On My Sleeve‘, the track simulates the two stars exchanging rhymes about pop star and actress Selena Gomez, who has been engaged to both in the past.
The author of the song, known as @ghostwriter, claims that the song was created by software trained on the musicians’ voices. “This is just the beginning,” is written below the song’s YouTube video. “We truly are in a new era,” one listener replied in the comments. “I can’t even tell what’s authentic or fake anymore.” “This is the first example of AI-generated music that really wowed me,” added Mckay Wrigley, an AI developer, on Twitter.
Since it was released on Friday, the song has been viewed more than 8.5 million times on TikTok. The full version has also been played 254,000 times on Spotify.
The song, in which the two musicians ‘imitated’ by the artificial intelligence rap and exchange rhymes and jokes, is not perfect. The song has the low-quality, scratchy feel of a demo, with the vocals being quite muddy at times.
Neither artist has yet commented on the song, but Drake recently expressed disappointment at the cloning of his voice. “This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back: AI,” he wrote on Instagram, after stumbling upon a fan-made video of him appearing to be rapping Ice Spice Munch (Feeling U). Drake’s complaint came after Universal Music Group wrote to streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music, asking them to block AI companies from accessing their archives. Probably, in fact, the companies that deal with artificial intelligence use streaming services to ‘train’ their software to imitate the voices of the stars. “We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists,” UMG warned in an email, published by the Financial Times.
Several websites already offer fans the ability to create new songs using voices similar to those of pop’s biggest stars. French DJ David Guetta recently used a site called uberduck.ai to mimic Eminem’s voice and add it to one of his instrumentals.”I’m sure the future of music is in artificial intelligence,” he later told the BBC. However, he said the technology could only be useful “as a tool,” as is already the case with the drum machine and sampler. “Nothing will replace taste,” he said. “What he defines as an artist is that he has a certain taste, a certain kind of emotion that he wants to express and he’s going to use all the modern tools to do that.”
Other tracks featuring mimicked vocals have gone viral recently, featuring a “deepfake” of Rihanna singing Beyoncé’s Cuff It; and a cloned Kanye West singing the acoustic ballad Hey There, Delilah.
The rapid development of these technologies has shaken up the music industry. Heart On My Sleeve, for example, does not infringe copyright, as it appears to be an entirely original composition. The author has also openly stated that Drake and The Weeknd were not involved in the making of the song, which should (in theory) protect him from a “counterfeiting” charge, i.e. profiteering by deceiving the public into believing that the voice is authentic.
In response, a broad coalition of musicians and artists has launched a “Human Artistry Campaign”, the aim of which is to ensure that artificial intelligence does not “erode” human creativity. Backed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association for Independent Music and the BPI – which unites British independent producers – the group outlined seven principles defining best practice in the use of AI and stressed that copyright protection should only be granted to music created by humans.
“There is so much potential in AI, but it also presents risks for our creative community,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr, launching the initiative. “It’s crucial to be clear early on how to use AI, so you don’t risk missing out on the artistic magic that only humans can create.”