AI-Generated Drake and The Weeknd Song Pulled By Streamers

There’s a new beef brewing in the rap world and it’s between artists and Artificial Intelligence.

Over the last few days, an AI-generated track featuring Drake and The Weeknd has been racking up listens.

Called “Heart On My Sleeve” the track simulates the two stars trading verses about pop star and actress Selena Gomez, who previously dated The Weeknd. The creator, known as @ghostwriter, claims the song was created by software trained on the musician’s voices.

“This is just the beginning,” they wrote under the song’s YouTube video.

The song opens with a repetitive piano figure that transitions into a booming bass beat. AI Drake raps: “I came in with my ex like Selena to flex/ Bumpin’ Justin Bieber the fever ain’t left.”

The fake Weeknd responds with a verse where he “alleges” Gomez cheated on him before their break-up in 2017.

The track even includes a call-out to producer Metro Boomin.

Since it was posted 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.

Industry power players however, aren’t so happy. On Monday (April 17) the track was yanked from most streaming platforms after Universal Music Group released a statement condemning “infringing content created with generative AI.”

UMG also urged streaming platforms like Spotify to block AI companies from accessing the label’s songs to “train” their machines.  The RIAA has also warned that doing so infringes copyrights on a mass scale.

“The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation,” a UMG spokesman said in a statement to Billboard. “We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”

Neither artist has responded to the song yet, but Drake recently expressed displeasure at his voice being cloned.