Drake x The Weeknd fake AI song goes viral, sparks debate

The new Drake and The Weeknd song “Heart on My Sleeve” is taking the internet by storm with more than 11 million views on TikTok. But neither of the artists had anything to do with it.

The track that sounds like a duet by the two artists is an AI-generated song rendered in their voices. It was released on the short-form video app by @ghostwriter977 on Saturday. The track was first uploaded on Apple Music and Spotify on April 4. 

But by Monday, the song was taken down from all three platforms.

Universal Music Group (UMG) is suspected to be behind the move as it works with both musicians.

UMG had asked Apple Music and Spotify to stop AI companies from “scraping” its music to train AI models.

Not the first time
Just last week, Drake responded “This is the last straw AI,” to a recording that sounded like his voice singing “Munch” by Ice Spice.

Ever since AI technology went mainstream, fake songs mimicking famous artists’ voices have increased. There are unauthorized AI-created songs containing Rihanna and Emininem’s vocals too.

What can be done?
Copyrights surrounding AI-generated art are not very specific. Removing intellectual property from AI models is like looking for a needle in a haystack, experts say.