AI-Generated Drake and The Weeknd song pulled out from streaming platforms owing to copyright violation

An AI-generated song featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, titled "Heart On My Sleeve," has been removed from various streaming platforms after Universal Music Group (UMG) expressed its displeasure with the song and demanded its removal.

The song was reportedly created by Ghostwriter977, who used AI software to replicate the voices of the two popular artists and created original lyrics.

It gained significant popularity with more than 275,000 plays on YouTube and over 625,000 plays on Spotify before it was taken down. The removal of the song has raised questions about existing copyright laws and their application to songs created without consent but in the voice of an artist.

AI isn't perfect

The use of AI in music is still relatively new, and legal experts have yet to determine whether the creation of music through AI software constitutes copyright infringement.

As Edward Klaris, a media lawyer and managing partner at Klaris Law, told NBC, “We are all waiting for the court’s decision that will assist us in telling whether training data is OK or not to arrive.”

UMG's request to stakeholders

UMG emphasized the importance of ethical responsibility in preventing the use of services in ways that harm artists, stating tha it’s a copyright violation to let some social media platforms play the song . 

The label urged people in the music industry to choose artists, fans and human creatives instead of relying on AI’s false and fraudulent systems that keep away artists from their due compensation.

While Drake and The Weeknd have not commented on the AI-generated song, Drake had previously expressed his frustration with AI-generated content after a fan-made video of him rapping to the Ice Spice song "Munch (Feeling U)" surfaced on Instagram.

As AI-generated music continues to develop faster than laws can be drawn up, the legal and ethical implications of such content will undoubtedly be the subject of ongoing debate. For now, the removal of "Heart On My Sleeve" raises important questions about the intersection of AI, creativity, and copyright laws.