Australian musicians sound warning note after Nick Cave, Kylie and many more slurped into AI training tool

Posted on by

‘It’s all just rendered useless’, Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey says as AI scrapes millions of songs to learn how to make music

Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning are among big-name Australian musicians upset that their original songs have been found in datasets used to train artificial intelligence.

A dataset search tool recently created by US publication The Atlantic reveals millions of creative works have been scraped from the internet to train the disruptive technology.

Continue reading...

‘No offence detected’: Victoria police close investigation into Moira Deeming allegation of assault by Matthew Guy

Posted on by

Guy accuses Deeming of making ‘ridiculous and unsubstantiated’ claims as state Liberal party grapples with fallout

Police have concluded their investigation into Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s allegation that her colleague Matthew Guy assaulted her, making the finding “no offence detected”.

Deeming had reported to police on 16 June that Guy, the opposition’s public transport spokesperson, had assaulted her at a Macedonian community event in Sunshine on 23 May.

Continue reading...

Who is Tommy Robinson? The Karl Stefanovic guest who has cost Australia’s famed TV host his job

Posted on by

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is an anti-Islamic, far-right political activist well known in the UK and Europe

The man who calls himself Tommy Robinson has roared into prominence in Australia after the morning TV mainstay Karl Stefanovic posted an interview with Robinson for his podcast.

The fallout was swift. Nine Entertainment, Australia’s largest locally owned media empire, has severed ties with Stefanovic, and he will not appear on a radio show with Eddie McGuire on Friday.

Continue reading...

UN agency pauses ship evacuations through strait of Hormuz after vessel struck

Posted on by

International Maritime Organization says safety guarantees must be confirmed before ships can move again

A United Nations agency has paused the evacuation of ships through the strait of Hormuz after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN.

The head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization said on Thursday that the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait would be on hold until the agency could confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region.

Continue reading...

Charities condemn ‘arrogant’ plans to house asylum seekers at former military sites

Posted on by

Planning permission has been sought for three additional military sites

Home Office plans to use three more former military sites to house thousands of asylum seekers have been condemned as “arrogant”, “costly” and “a political fix” by refugee charities and local stakeholders.

Planning permission is being sought to build “basic” accommodation at MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, a statement said. These new sites could house 3,750 claimants, the government has claimed.

Continue reading...

King Charles’s tax bill: what did we learn, and what is still in the dark?

Posted on by

We know the monarch paid £24.6m in tax over the last two years, but we still don’t know how wealthy he actually is

King Charles has become Britain’s first monarch in modern times to reveal how much tax he pays on his private income: £24.6m over the last two years.

It’s a move celebrated by some as heralding an era of greater transparency from the monarchy. But just how open has it been?

Continue reading...

Karl Stefanovic to leave Nine immediately after Today host’s podcast controversy

Posted on by

Network says it was ‘no longer possible’ for Stefanovic to host Today, days after he interviewed far-right activist Tommy Robinson on independent podcast

Karl Stefanovic is leaving Nine immediately, the network said in a statement on Friday.

It was presented as a joint decision, however it follows days of controversy after the highly paid Today presenter used his independent podcast to interview British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Continue reading...