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Praise for man, couple who tried to stop attackers SYDNEY: While a Sydney

Musicians sound alarm over AI impersonators

are the gunmen and say the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Another couple, who have not yet been identified, were also filmed tackling one of the terrorists to stop him before apparently being shot dead. The dashcam footage, verified by Reuters, showed one shooter wrestling for a long-barrelled weapon with an older man in a lavender shirt and shorts, before both fall heavily to the ground behind a silver hatchback car. The man in lavender, who is with a woman, gets up with the weapon as the footage moves on. Separate drone video shows the man and woman lying motionless next to the vehicle beside the pedestrian bridge where the gunmen were later shot by police. “An elderly man by the roadside did not run away instead, he charged straight towards the danger, using all his strength trying to wrestle away the gun and fighting to the death,” said dashcam owner Jenny, who shared the footage with Reuters. “I can see from my camera that the elderly man was shot and collapsed. “That moment broke my heart,” she said. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this week praised the actions of Australians who had “run towards danger in order to help others”. “These Australians are heroes and their bravery has saved lives,” he told a press conference. – Reuters

shopowner is being hailed as a hero after disarming one of the gunmen shooting at Bondi Beach, a couple and another man who died after confronting the attackers are also being remembered for their heroic efforts. Reuven Morrison, 62, was shot dead after trying to halt the bloodshed, his daughter Sheina Gutnick told American broadcaster CBS News in a report published on Monday. “He had jumped the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks. “He was screaming at the terrorist and protecting his community,” she said. “If there is one way for him to go on this earth it would be fighting a terrorist.” Morrison’s actions are visible in several videos posted on social media. After 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a father-of-two, charged one of the gunmen from behind and disarmed him, a man is seen chasing the terrorist and hurling something at him. Morrison, who originally came from the USSR, was later shot and killed, according to Gutnick. Ahmed is recovering in hospital after surgery for bullet wounds and donations to support him have topped A$2 million (RM5.4 million). Morrison was one of 15 people killed in what is Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years. Officials allege a father and son

LONDON: Does the latest track by your favourite singer sound slightly off? You may be right. Fraudulent AI generated tracks are increasingly appearing in artistes’ own profiles on streaming platforms, presented as their original work. British folk musician Emily Portman got a shock in July when she received a message from a fan congratulating her on her new album even though she hadn’t released one since 2022. That’s when she discovered Orca on streaming platforms. The titles of the songs resembled something she might have created herself, but “very quickly I recognised it was AI-produced music”, she said. According to the independent artiste, the AI behind Orca was “trained” on her previous albums, mimicking her folk-inspired instrumentation and lyrics. “I just felt really uncomfortable and disturbed that people could be going to my profile ... and then think ‘wow, what’s this?,’” she said. Portman said people were fooled despite the “pristine perfection” of the vocals and “vacuous lyrics”. The musician couldn’t identify the perpetrators of the fraud, but believes she knows how they operate. Scammers claiming to be artistes approach distribution companies, which then upload the music online without any identity checks, she said. On the other side of the world, Australian musician Paul Bender also discovered from early this year that four “bizarrely bad” AI-generated songs had been added to the profiles of his band, The Sweet Enoughs. He said the streaming industry hadn’t kept pace with security measures such as two-factor authentication now widely used in other sectors. “You just say: ‘Yes that’s me’ ... and upload a song to whoever’s profile,” he said. “It’s the easiest scam in the world.” After an Instagram discussion, Bender, who is also the bassist for the Grammy-nominated band Hiatus Kaiyote , received hundreds of o Some countries, states have legislation to protect artistes against imitation

Portman found a counterfeit album purporting to be created by her. – AFPPIC

weeks before the assault that killed 15 people. The attack on Sunday is being investigated as an act of terrorism. It was not immediately clear what activities they undertook in the Philippines or whether they travelled elsewhere after landing in Davao, a city in Mindanao, a region where militant groups have operated. not taken legal action, asked the various platforms to remove the offending tracks – a process that took between 24 hours and eight weeks. Some countries and states have legislation to protect artistes against imitation, particularly in California. In others, including the United Kingdom, limited copyright leaves artistes vulnerable, said Philip Morris of the Musicians’ Union. He said Portman’s case showed how AI-generated music was now so sophisticated it could actually be used “to impersonate the original work of a real artiste”. Accused of a lack of transparency, Spotify recently announced measures to make the platform more reliable and transparent. Like its competitor Apple Music, it says it is working upstream with distributors to better detect fraud. “Across the music industry, AI is accelerating problems like spam, fraud, and deceptive content,” it said. Despite her concerns about potential UK legislation that artistes say will damage their interests, and fraudsters making a mockery of the “beauty of the creative process”, Portman is working on a new album. “The album that I’m making, it’s costing a lot of money ... but for me it’s all about those human connections, creativity and teaming up with other amazing creatives,” she said. – AFP

messages from artistes and music fans. He compiled a list of suspect albums, particularly in the catalogues of deceased artistes, such as the experimental Scottish musician Sophie, who died in 2021. Around 24,000 people signed a petition Bender launched on change.org , including rapper and singer-songwriter Anderson Paak and singer Willow Smith, urging platforms to step up security. AI-powered music generators such as Suno and Udio have become increasingly refined. Almost all listeners are now unable to distinguish AI-generated tracks from the real thing, according to an Ipsos study for the French platform Deezer in November. This has driven success for bands solely created by AI, such as The Velvet Sundown , which has garnered one million subscribers on Spotify, but also led to a rise in fraudulent activity. “The reason that music was uploaded under her (Portman’s) name was essentially to make sure that they could gain royalties from (it),” said Dougie Brown of the industry representative UK Music. Revenues on the platforms are generally low, but add up thanks to bots that multiply listening streams tenfold, he said. Portman and Bender, who have

Ahmed recovering at St George Hospital in Sydney. – AFPPIC / NSW PREMIER’S DEPARTMENT HANDOUT

Philippines confirms visit by alleged gunmen MANILA: The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said yesterday that the two alleged gunmen behind the mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines on Nov 1 aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR212 from Sydney to Manila and onward to Davao. national and Australian resident, travelled on an Indian passport, while his son Naveed Akram, 24, an Australian national, used an Australian passport. Both arrived together on that flight.

While the Armed Forces of the Philippines is validating the reports, its spokesperson said in a statement the military is closely coordinating with relevant agencies on matters involving the movements of foreign nationals and potential terrorist ties. The Philippine army continues to hunt leaders of groups deemed to be “terrorists”. – Reuters/AFP

In 2017, gunmen seized parts of the southern city of Marawi and held it through five months of ground offensives and air strikes by the military. The siege of Marawi, the country’s biggest battle since World War II, displaced some 350,000 residents and more than 1,100 people were killed, mostly gunmen.

They departed on Nov 28 on the same flight number, PR212, from Davao via Manila back to Sydney,

A spokesperson for the bureau said that Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian