AI song mimicking Drake and The Weeknd removed from streaming services
An AI-generated track titled Heart on My Sleeve by Ghostwriter used cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd. The song was removed from major streaming platforms following a takedown request by Universal Music Group.
The song used generative AI to clone the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, leading to a mass takedown by Universal Music Group.
Key facts
- What
- An AI-generated track titled Heart on My Sleeve by Ghostwriter used cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd.
- Incident date
- Apr 17, 2023
- Who
- Ghostwriter
- Failure mode
- Policy Violation
- AI surface
- Voice Agent
- Severity
- Medium
What happened
An AI-generated song titled Heart on My Sleeve by Ghostwriter mimicked the voices of artists Drake and The Weeknd. After going viral on TikTok and Spotify, the track was removed from these platforms. Universal Music Group issued takedowns citing violations of artists' rights.
What broke inside the model
- 01 · TriggerA prompt pushes against a deployment boundary.
- 02 · Model stepThe model produces the disallowed output.
- 03 · Control gapNo enforcement blocks it at generation time.
- 04 · FailureThe output crosses the policy line.
- 05 · ConsequenceA limit the business set is breached in public.
The output crosses a policy boundary the deployment had defined.
The system used generative AI voice cloning to synthesize the unique vocal characteristics of Drake and The Weeknd. This allowed the creation of high-fidelity audio that mimicked real artists without authorization.
What it cost
Sources
- PressAI song featuring fake Drake and Weeknd vocals pulled from streaming servicestheguardian.com
- PressFake AI Drake, The Weeknd Song Pulled From Streaming Servicesbillboard.com
Cite this entry
https://failureindex.ai/failures/song-mimicking-drake-weeknd-removed-streamingAI Failure Index. "AI song mimicking Drake and The Weeknd removed from streaming services" (FI-0660). Realm Labs. https://failureindex.ai/failures/song-mimicking-drake-weeknd-removed-streaming (indexed Jun 22, 2026).Data fields CC-BY 4.0, prose citation permitted. Incident ID FI-0660. Full dataset at /data.
Note from Realm Labs, the Index steward
How Realm would have caught this
- Prism
- OmniGuard
Realm compares what the model is about to output or do against the policy that governs the deployment, in real time, and can deny or redact the action before it takes effect, which is the gap an after-the-fact review never closes in time.