Technologies

Spotify Takes Down Fake AI Song Credited to Famous Country Singer Who’s Been Dead for Years

Blaze Foley died decades ago, but an AI company pushed a song out under his name anyway — and it’s not the only AI-generated song appearing on Spotify.

Country music fans may know Blaze Foley from his outlaw country Austin shows in the ’80s, but they wouldn’t recognize the track, «Together,» that mysteriously appeared under Foley’s Spotify profile a few days ago. That’s because it’s an AI-generated song uploaded by Syntax Error, and the sign of a growing problem in music apps.

AI can easily create songs and imitate certain styles, but in addition to copyright issues, that creates legal problems when AI pretends to be an existing artist. It’s not clear what Syntax Error is exactly, but it’s certainly not Blaze Foley, who was killed in 1989. The song and the album art accompanying it are fairly obviously AI-generated, drawing the ire of subscribers, as reported earlier by 404 Media.

It’s not Spotify’s first run-in with AI controversy. There’s also the popular AI band The Velvet Sundown, which has already been banned from music contests after raising questions about the future of artificial music and threats to non-AI-powered musicians.

There are also reports that fake songs have appeared under the profiles of other real artists in Spotify, like Guy Clark.

«We flagged the issue to SoundOn, the distributor of the content in question, and it was swiftly removed,» a Spotify spokesperson told us when CNET reached out to learn more. «This violates Spotify’s policies and is not allowed. We take action against licensors and distributors who fail to police this kind of fraud, and those who commit repeated or egregious violations can and have been permanently removed from Spotify.»

It seems like Spotify relies on third parties to prevent songs from being uploaded to the wrong artist profile, but questions remain on how this process works. Fans may soon have to start double-checking when a new song drops from popular artists they follow: Is it an AI fake or the real deal from a favorite band?

Lost Art Records, the company that manages Blake Foley’s collection, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Syntax Error doesn’t appear to exist outside of Spotify, and could not be reached for comment.

Technologies

Starlink Restored After Hours-Long Outage Took Down Elon Musk’s Satellite Internet Service

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 25 #509

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 25 No. 509.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a mix of easy words to find and unscramble and one whopping long one. But if you know the theme, that word is easy to decipher. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Step to it!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Boogie shoes.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

HOGS, RICE, RICER, MUSE, CHAT, CHATS, GRAM, PANT, COAT, COATS, PARS, CARS, LASS, CLASS, CLASSY

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

MUSIC, COSTUME, RECITAL, TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHY

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is DANCECLASS. To find it, start with the D that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind up and over.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 25, #305

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 25, No. 305.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition tested my breadth of sports knowledge. The blue category pays tribute to one of the greatest players of all time. See if you can figure it out. We’ve got hints and the answers in case you get stuck.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Rink-related.

Green group hint: The lower end of the Golden State.

Blue group hint: NFL G.O.A.T.

Purple group hint: You can also do this to your hair.