Fake Drake controversy is just the start of what AI will bring to music

A year ago, few people were talking about artificial intelligence. Today, it seems it's all we can talk about, especially when it comes to music.

The most talked-about song of the month so far hasn’t been the Foo Fighters’ new single or anything from Taylor Swift but a track that featured the vocals of both Drake and The Weeknd while simultaneously featuring nothing from either artist.

If you’re confused, just wait.

Heart on My Sleeve was a creation of someone named Ghostwriter977 who used artificial intelligence to mimic the vocal styles of both performers. The result was a brand new song born out of software that really does sound like Drake and The Weeknd spent the weekend in a studio together.

Ghostwriter977 posted the track on all the streaming music services (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, SoundCloud, Tidal, and Deezer) and saw it played and viewed hundreds of thousands of times. A TikTok post was streamed 15 million times. One Twitter post received 20 million clicks.

Universal Music, the home label of both Drake and The Weeknd, complained very loudly and Heart on My Sleeve was taken down. But because the internet is forever, you can find it with a quick Google search. Universal condemned the practice of using real songs by real artists to train AI to create new and different songs, calling this “both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.” The label also took a shot at streaming music services, saying that they have “legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.”

There is so much to unpack with this situation.

Drake and The Weeknd aren’t the only acts to find fake versions of themselves online. Rihanna, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, and Eminem are just three other artists who have been cloned using generative AI. Imagine being sent a link to a song where that’s you but not you. Would you feel violated and ripped off?

In the case of a Lady Gaga/Lana Del Rey creation, both singers gave their blessing and apparently love the results. It’s unclear if they’re being compensated.