11/05/2026

LYFE MONDAY | MAY 11, 2026

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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AI growth spurs resentment, violence S EVERAL proponents of artificial intelligence (AI) have become the victims of violent acts in recent days, reflecting a data centre construction project. Those behind the April 6 attack also left a note reading “No Data Centres”. “Anxiety about emerging o Tech CEO, government official become targets as anxiety, frustration ramp up “The fact that some edges justify violent acts is very troubling, and it needs to be condemned as strongly as possible,” Weiss-Blatt said. The attacks against AI figureheads have no demonstrable ties to one another nor do they claim affiliation with any shared organisation. technology companies, especially the big ones, they’re always in the news and when that happens... we’re going to see an uptick in interest in potential attacks,” said Rory Moran, who oversees executive security at United Security, Inc. ‘Violence will not help’ The response to the violence on the internet has been less panicked. wrote in a post on X: “The rhetoric of the pause/stop crowd is out of control and it has gotten worse with time. “This rhetoric always had the potential to cause violence and now this seems to be no longer hypothetical.”

Valerie Sizemore, one of Stop AI’s co-founders, said Moreno-Gama – the Molotov cocktail suspect – posted on Stop AI’s Discord server to ask if he could discuss violence against AI founders. The server’s moderators said posting about such subject matter would get him banned and he never returned. “Violence will not help,” Sizemore said, instead urging people concerned about AI to opt for “non violent actions.” “It is really my hope that this is the icebreaking moment that leads everyone to listen to the public and start trying to have the conversation we need to have,” she said. launch, representing hundreds of thousands of musicians – the majority of them independent – spanning genres and geographies. The initiative arrives amid mounting concern across the music industry over AI-generated content overwhelming streaming catalogues. Deezer, a competing platform, disclosed last week that synthetic tracks now make up 44% of all new music uploaded to its service each day. Major labels have also pushed back. Sony Music recently said it had sought the takedown of more than 135,000 AI-produced songs that mimicked its signed artistes across streaming services. Beyond the badge, Spotify is adding a new information section to all artiste pages – whether or not they hold verified status – displaying career highlights, release patterns and live performance history. The company compared the feature to nutritional labelling for food, giving listeners a way to quickly gauge an artiste’s track record on the platform. The announcement followed Spotify’s first-quarter 2026 earnings report, in which the company said its paying subscriber base had reached 293 million. – AFP

But Mauro Lubrano, University of Bath International Relations lecturer, said calling such actors lone wolves “is actually not that accurate, because these groups are embedded in some sort of digital ecosystem.” Lubrano connects the recent string of violence to the vandalism of Tesla vehicles and dealerships in 2025 in response to founder Elon Musk’s work with the administration of US President Donald Trump. The recent reports of violence have led to an increased demand for physical protection among tech companies. “In recent months, we’ve definitely seen a clear uptick. These AI and

the existential dread around the emerging technology – and the public’s growing resentment towards its advocates. Billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is among the most prominent, with someone throwing a Molotov cocktail at his home on April 10. A suspect, 20-year-old Daniel Moreno Gama, has been arrested. But the violence extends beyond Silicon Valley’s elite to include local policymakers, such as Ron Gibson, a city councilmember in Indianapolis who had 13 bullets shot through his front door after expressing support for

Many commentators on platforms such as TikTok have downplayed or justified the attacks, comparing those involved to Luigi Mangione, the suspect behind the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024. But some organisations advocating for limiting AI expansion, such as Pause AI and Stop AI, now worry they will be associated with endorsing violent acts against AI proponents. Dean Ball, a former AI policy adviser for the Trump administration, SPOTIFY recently unveiled a new verification system designed to help listeners distinguish human musicians from artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, as AI floods streaming platforms with a growing volume of synthetic tracks. The Swedish streaming giant said its “Verified by Spotify” badge – marked by a green checkmark – will begin appearing on artiste profiles and in search results in the coming weeks, signalling that a profile has been reviewed and meets the platform’s standards for authenticity. Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated music or AI-created personas will not be eligible for the badge, the company said in a blog post. “In the AI era, it’s more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music you listen to,” Spotify said. To earn verification, artistes must demonstrate sustained listener engagement over time, comply with Spotify’s platform rules and show signs of a genuine presence on and off the platform, such as concert dates, merchandise and linked social media accounts. The company said more than 99% of artistes that listeners actively search for will be verified at

technologies is nothing new,” researcher Nirit Weiss-Blatt told AFP, whose Substack newsletter AI Panic covers the growing hostility towards AI. “With AI, though, it feels more extreme,” she added, noting Moreno Gama was radicalised through the “‘AI existential risk’ rhetoric” rather than its employment or environmental impacts. “We need to have a broader discussion about how the ‘extinction risk’ rhetoric radicalises the most vulnerable individuals.

Spotify debuts badge to separate creators from generated music

No Oscars for non-human actors, writers ACTORS created with artificial intelligence (AI) will not be eligible for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said recently as it launched a crackdown on the use of AI. owners, a year after the Top Gun star’s death. A youthful, digital version of Kilmer appeared in the trailer for archeological action picture As Deep as the Grave , telling another character: “Don’t fear the dead and don’t fear me.” films can be nominated for best international feature. Until this year, only a film selected by an official national grouping could be entered – a problem for any critical movie made in an authoritarian state. For example, Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident was nominated earlier this year as a submission from France. The use of AI remains one of the most sensitive issues in the entertainment industry. – REUTERSPIC

New rules include a requirement that only real, live human performers – not their AI avatars – are eligible for the film world’s biggest prizes and screenplays must have been penned by a person rather than a chatbot. “In the Acting category, only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible. In the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible,” the Academy said. The ruling comes days after an AI version of the late Val Kilmer was unveiled to an audience of cinema

The project was created with the enthusiastic support of the actor’s family, who granted access to Kilmer’s video archives, which were used to recreate the actor at multiple stages of his life. The use of AI remains one of the most sensitive issues in the entertainment industry and was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned unchecked technology threatened their livelihoods. Other updates to the Academy’s rules include a change in the way that

Under the new rules, a non-English language film also can be submitted in the category if it wins a qualifying award at a major international film festival, including Cannes, Berlin, Busan, Venice or Toronto. In that same category, the film will be deemed the nominee and not the country and its director will be “listed on the statuette plaque after the film title” along with the country if applicable, the Academy announced. – AFP

Spotify says its paying subscriber base had reached 293 million. – 123RFPIC