The unexpected rise of an AI-generated country song to the top of the charts has triggered fresh concerns across the music industry, after the track appeared to mimic the vocal style of Grammy-nominated artist Blanco Brown without his consent.
Earlier this month, “Walk My Walk,” credited to a fictional white digital avatar named Breaking Rust, claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s country digital song sales chart. But listeners quickly noted the song’s vocal tone, phrasing and melodic patterns were strikingly similar to Brown, known for his 2019 viral hit “The Git Up.”
Brown said he first heard about the song only after friends sent him urgent messages. “Somebody told me, ‘They typed your name into AI and made a white version of you,’” he said.
The track is listed as the work of Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, also linked to the explicit AI-generated act Defbeatsai. That project has been traced to Abraham Abushmais — a former collaborator of Brown’s — who created Echo, an AI music generator. Brown said he received no notification about the song and has not been able to reach Abushmais.
What disturbed him most, he said, was the racial dynamic: a white digital character paired with a voice modeled after a Black artist. “It’s a white AI man with a Black voice,” Brown said. “And he’s singing like a Negro spiritual.”
In response, Brown has released his own version of “Walk My Walk,” with another reworked edition set for release Monday. His team says the effort is meant to highlight the unresolved legal and ethical issues surrounding AI-produced music.
The dispute comes amid rapid expansion of AI music tools such as Suno and Udio, which allow users to create full songs using simple prompts. While major labels have sued these companies over alleged use of copyrighted training data, both Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have recently signed AI licensing deals in early attempts to set industry standards.
Experts warn that the technology is moving faster than regulatory and ethical frameworks. “AI has democratized music creation but without guardrails,” said Josh Antonuccio of Ohio University. “Creators are stuck in a strange purgatory where they aren’t being compensated.”
For Brown, the racial implications are impossible to ignore. As a Black crossover act who has long struggled for steady country radio airplay, he noted that an AI version of his sound topped the charts while he continues to face industry barriers. “He created something with my tone and gave it a white face,” Brown said. “In Nashville, that’s nothing new.”
Despite his frustration, Brown said his issue is not with AI itself but with the absence of credit and rights for the artists whose voices inspire these systems. “I go through this every day with real people who borrow from what I do,” he said. “Robot or human — they’re not giving me credit anyway.”
Even so, he remains confident in the value of human creativity. “Real artists are always going to prevail,” Brown said. “Purpose lives where greed can’t.”
