Un titre sur dix livré sur Deezer est du bruit généré par IA

Un titre sur dix livré sur Deezer est du bruit ou une fausse chanson générés par intelligence artificielle (IA), a indiqué vendredi la plateforme musicale, qui dit avoir mis en place un “outil de pointe” pour les détecter.”Environ 10.000 pistes totalement générées par IA sont livrées à la plateforme chaque jour, soit environ 10% du contenu quotidien livré”, a indiqué Deezer dans un communiqué.Deezer tire cette conclusion au terme d’une année de déploiement de la technologie qu’il a conçue en interne et qui a abouti à “une demande pour deux brevets” fin décembre.Cette technologie permet, d’après l’entreprise, de “détecter spécifiquement le contenu généré par IA sans nécessiter un entraînement extensif sur des ensembles de données spécifiques”.L’enjeu pour Deezer est de mieux rémunérer les artistes en supprimant des contenus parasites. Les personnes qui les mettent en ligne, sans être musiciens, peuvent prétendre à une rémunération, alors que seuls les écoutent des comptes d’utilisateurs créés artificiellement à cette fin.”L’intelligence artificielle continue de perturber de plus en plus l’écosystème musical, avec une quantité croissante de contenu IA”, a souligné le PDG Alexis Lanternier, cité dans le communiqué.Celui-ci veut aller plus loin: “À l’avenir, nous avons l’intention de développer un système de marquage pour le contenu totalement généré par IA, et de l’exclure des recommandations algorithmiques et éditoriales”.Par ailleurs, Deezer explique avoir “pour objectif de continuer à développer les capacités de sa technologie pour inclure la détection de voix générées par deepfakes”, à savoir des imitations indétectables par l’oreille humaine.En collaboration avec la Sacem, qui défend en France les intérêts des musiciens, le français Deezer, l’un des concurrents du numéro un mondial du streaming musical, Spotify, avait annoncé mi-janvier un changement de son modèle de rémunération. Il cherchait à mieux récompenser les artistes écoutés moins fréquemment mais ayant une plus grande variété d’auditeurs.

Fire-hit California frets over Trump’s funding threats

As fire-wrecked Los Angeles braces for a visit by President Donald Trump, many are worrying the mercurial Republican will yank the federal support the city needs to get back on its feet.Trump is due in the shell-shocked city for a few hours on Friday afternoon, where he will be able to see for himself the devastation wrought by the deadly fires — damage whose repair will cost billions of dollars.Former president Joe Biden was quick to pledge whatever was needed to deal with the disaster in the waning days of his administration.But almost as soon as the fires erupted, Trump began sticking the boot in, lashing out at California Governor Gavin Newsom, and resurrecting an earlier hobbyhorse about water supplies.”I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said this week, emphasizing his false belief that there is a valve in northern California that can be turned to release billions of gallons (liters) of water in the rain-starved state.- Funding needed – Threats to withhold federal funds are worrisome to some of those who lost everything in the fires.”I just can’t fathom that the government is going to let so many people (suffer)… that they’re not going to help them,” Sebastian Harrison told AFP.This 59-year-old former actor lost his Malibu home in the blaze. He was not insured, unable to afford premiums that topped $40,000 a year.Without government money, getting his life back on track might prove almost impossible, he fears.In Altadena, a modest city further inland, as in the upscale Pacific Palisades, thousands of ruined buildings need to be cleared. Federal cash granted by Biden for 180 days is intended to cover this.But local authorities fret the White House’s new inhabitant might not honor that check.”Everybody’s rushing to make sure the funds get here before Trump gets in office,” a local official told AFP last week, on condition of anonymity.But, the person said, the demography of the disaster — which affected some very wealthy people as well as those of more modest means — gives hope that Trump won’t be able to abandon the region.”Trump may think of Altadena as a bunch of low-life Democrats, but Pacific Palisades is a different story,” the source said.”That’s the first zip code where he and other Republicans go to when they want to raise money in Los Angeles.”- “Principle of unity” – Pacific Palisades and the parts of Malibu it abuts are considerably less left-leaning than other parts of Los Angeles.While the area has its share of Hollywood liberals, it also has property developers, businesspeople and other Republicans.Among those who lost their homes was Mel Gibson, who Trump has just appointed to an ill-defined role as ambassador to Hollywood.The new president’s visit to Los Angeles looks set to include a meeting with the state’s governor — whom Trump delights in calling Gavin “Newscum.”There is no love lost between the two men, but Newsom has taken a more conciliatory approach in recent weeks.”Historically, federal disaster aid has been provided without conditions, recognizing that political calculations or regional divides should not encumber relief efforts,” he wrote in a letter last week to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.”This principle of unity is at the heart of our nation’s resilience.”But if the federal government cannot be cajoled into stumping up the funds needed for recovery and reconstruction, California says it is prepared to use the courts.The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he found it “disheartening” that Trump and his allies were seeking to politicize tragedy.”We have every expectation that federal action will be taken to support California and the hardworking Californians whose lives and livelihoods are at risk,” he told AFP.”We have been preparing for the Trump administration for months, and we will not hesitate to act if we believe the president is violating the law.”

Taekwondo star Hamidi sacrifices her freedom to battle the Taliban

Afghan taekwondo star Marzieh Hamidi told AFP the death threats she has received, forcing her to live under French police protection, show how effective her stinging criticism of the Taliban has been.The 22-year-old’s defiance of Afghanistan’s governing Taliban fits well with her coming from “a family of freedom fighters.”Her father fought in the Afghanistan army and then alongside the late mujahideen leader Ahmed Shah Massoud before moving to Iran.Hamidi’s weapon has been her voice, since coming to France in December 2021 after living for a few months under Taliban rule when they seized power again in August that year.However, her no-holds-barred criticisms of the Taliban had serious repercussions.Last September she was granted police protection after receiving 5,000 calls, including 500 threatening to either murder or rape her.French prosecutors opened an investigation in September after her lawyer Ines Davau lodged a legal complaint for cyber-harassment and death threats, as well as threats of rape.Remarkably, the erudite and passionate Hamidi — formerly Afghanistan’s national champion at -57 kilos and with a ranking in the top 100 in the world — sees the positive side.”It means that I have more power than them, because I always talk about the situation,” she told AFP at Davau’s office in Paris.”This time I talk about more details, because it’s not to boycott Taliban, it’s also to boycott who are normalising them.”It can be an athlete, an artist, activist.”She believes in particular that the men’s Afghan cricket federation has close links to the Taliban and should be boycotted by their opponents.Hamidi, whose sporting aim is to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, has an Afghan passport and a 10-year French residency permit.She said it was her duty to harangue the Taliban and their supporters.The Taliban has imposed an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid” and Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from secondary school and university. The Taliban authorities claim Islamic law “guarantees” the rights of all Afghans.”I have to fight, because I was stuck there three months,” said Hamidi.”I saw that the system is against women, how they are making it a bad place for everyone.”So because of that, I’m talking about this.”Hamidi, who was born in Iran and returned with her family to live in Afghanistan in 2020, remains in touch with friends back home.”Each time is bad when I talk with them.”- ‘Feel so lonely’ -Hamidi says wearing the burqa is repugnant — a 2022 edict by the supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said women should wear the garment but many just wear headscarves and long coats.”I think this is the end of humanity. Like, you cannot breathe.”You put on the burqa. It’s like you put yourself in a prison when you walk in the city.”Hamidi’s way of life in France is restricted in a manner which would be alien to ordinary people.Phone calls have to be made to cinemas and restaurants alerting them to her coming, accompanied by a police bodyguard, and to ensure it is “a safe area.”Her frustration boils over at times.”I mean, at my age, it’s too much for me, you know, like, I just want to live free and to go crazy,” she said.”I’m proud of my fight, I’m not regretful of my fight, but I’m sad what’s going on in my life because of that.”This is costing my safety, my freedom, my joy in life.”She has the unconditional support of her parents, three sisters and brother — who live at an undisclosed location.”It’s the spirit of my parents that they are combatants,” said Hamidi, who managed to see them recently.”They really have this spirit to fight against this Taliban ideology.”Because of that, they always support me. “Sometimes my mum tells me, ‘calm down, Marzieh’. But, it’s my mom. She’s stressing for me.”My father, he’s like, no, no, no, keep going, keep going.” Hamidi, whose sole company largely consists of her PR representative Baptiste Berard Proust and Davau, says things are bleak at times.”At the end of the day, it’s me facing this,” she said.”Sometimes I feel so lonely, even if I have good people around me.”I’m kind of lost, sometimes it’s difficult to keep the balance in life for me.”It’s a lot of pressure, because the most important thing for me is my taekwondo.”She admits she is “really afraid”. nevertheless her indomitable spirit ensures she remains unbowed.  “If I stay silent, they win.”

Bank of Japan hikes interest rate to 17-year high, signals more

The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates on Friday to their highest level in 17 years and signalled more were in the pipeline despite fears of turmoil under US President Donald Trump.The well-flagged 25-basis-point increase to 0.5 percent comes as economic data indicates the world’s fourth-biggest economy was developing in line with the policymakers’ expectations and follows another bumper reading on inflation.The move, which leaves borrowing costs at the highest since 2008, was underpinned by healthy underlying inflation, firms “steadily” raising wages and financial markets being “stable on the whole”, the BoJ said in a statement.”Japan’s economic activity and prices have been developing generally in line with the Bank’s outlook, and the likelihood of realising the outlook has been rising,” it said.If its outlook is met, “the bank will accordingly continue to raise the policy interest rate and adjust the degree of monetary accommodation”, it added.The news, and expectations for more hikes in the future, saw the yen strengthen to 155.20 per dollar — from 156.3 earlier — having weakened in recent months following Trump’s election and bets the Federal Reserve will slow down its interest rate cut campaign this year.Even as other central banks have raised borrowing costs in recent years, the BoJ has remained an outlier, maintaining an ultra-loose stance in an attempt to spark growth and inflation.But it concluded last March that Japan’s “lost decades” of economic stagnation and static or falling prices were over, finally lifting rates above zero, where they had been for more than a decade in a bid to kickstart inflation and growth.The March increase — which was the first since 2007 — was followed by another in July that caught investors off guard and sparked turmoil in global equity and currency markets.This time, BoJ chief Kazuo Ueda prepared markets for an increase — some 75 percent of economists expected one — and the reaction was more muted on Friday.- Trump tariffs -“With no market turbulence after Trump’s inauguration,” conditions for the BoJ to hike its policy rate have been met, Ko Nakayama, chief economist of Okasan Securities Research, said before the announcement.”Raising just 25 basis points to 0.5 percent won’t cool the economy,” he said before the decision was announced.There are, however, concerns among Japanese companies that Trump could throw a spanner into the works by imposing huge tariffs on imports from key trading partners, which many economists warn could drive up inflation.Japan’s economic growth slowed in the July-September quarter, partly because of one of the fiercest typhoons in decades and warnings of a major earthquake, which did not materialise.”The Bank of Japan is dialling back monetary policy support despite the poor run of economic data. The weak yen is a key reason,” Moody’s Analytics said in a note.Data released Friday showed that headline Japanese inflation hit 3.6 percent in December, or 3.0 percent adjusted for food prices, up from 2.7 percent in November.The core reading remained above the BoJ’s two-percent inflation target, which it has surpassed every month since April 2022.The BoJ on Friday also raised its inflation forecast for fiscal 2024 — running to March 31, 2025 — to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent previously.For fiscal 2025 it now expects inflation of 2.4 percent and 2.0 percent in 2026 — both up from 1.9 percent previously forecast.Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics said inflation was set to remain above the BoJ’s objective “for a while yet”.As a result “we’re sticking to our forecast that the policy rate will reach an above-consensus 1.25 percent by the end of next year”, Thieliant said before Friday’s announcement.kh-nf-jug-stu/dan

‘Nerve-racking’: Inside the aerial battle to tame Los Angeles fires

Helicopter pilot Tim Thomas has fought dozens of wildfires all over the world, but nothing prepared him for the scale and the challenge of the devastating blazes that ripped through Los Angeles.”I’ve never seen anything the scale that we saw the first night,” he told AFP.Fires erupted almost simultaneously in two separate neighborhoods during a furious windstorm on January 7.Whole streets were engulfed as hurricane-force gusts flung fireballs from house to house.Forecasters had been warning of extreme fire risk for days because of punishing dryness and winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour, saying any small fire would quickly spread.Extra resources were positioned all over the at-risk region, which extended for miles around the sprawling metropolis.But the fires, when they came, were overwhelming, defeating the hundreds of firefighters on the ground.Only an air assault would stop them.- Transfixed -A terrifying 24 hours after the first smoke blackened the air, winds dropped just enough for helicopters to take to the skies.”It was some of the most turbulent wind I’ve seen,” said helicopter coordinator John Williamson.Under the careful eye of experienced operators like Williamson, each pilot took turns in an elaborate airborne ballet.The life-saving airshow they put on for nearly two weeks became a defining feature of the fires, watched with awe and gratitude by a terrified region.Television viewers were transfixed by the incredible skills of helicopter pilots loading up hundreds of gallons (liters) of water into the bellies of their aircraft while hovering over a reservoir, then dumping it with pinpoint accuracy on a wall of flames.The sight of huge jet planes swooping over a fire line and unleashing a trail of bright red retardant thrilled and relieved those whose homes were threatened.But while they might have made it look easy, the pilots say the reality was far from it, with strong winds and unfamiliar terrain a constant challenge.”There were definitely some uneasy moments going over the mountains where the crew was looking for me to see if I’m comfortable,” said Thomas.”There’s definitely some times where the aircraft’s 23,000 pound (11.5 tons), and you’re getting rocked around, thrown around in the air.”- ‘Takes your breath away’ -Paul Karpus, who has overseen operations at an airbase in Camarillo, 45 miles (70 kilometers) west of Los Angeles, said the opening days of the firefight were like nothing he has experienced in 23 years.”Every season, you say, I’ve seen it all… And then you’re surprised,” he told AFP.”Seeing the amount of devastation for the first time, when the sun was coming up, and the amount of structures lost, it takes your breath away.”Aerial teams operated 24 hours, pulling long shifts that left them exhausted and fraught.”On a scale of one to 10, this one was a 10, stress-wise,” said Karpus.- ‘Nerve-racking’ -Williamson, whose job is to sit next to the pilot, guiding him to his designated zone and monitoring dozens of radio messages, said the complexity of the operation was a challenge.”The first three nights, really was pretty nerve-racking,” he said.Zach Boyce, who ran daytime operations said the sheer volume of aircraft in a tight space made things tricky.”We’re coordinating a lot of helicopters in a very tight area, and then we introduce fixed wing operations and air tankers and air attack… and everything becomes super compressed,” he said.More than two weeks after the fires erupted, killing more than two dozen people and reducing 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) to ash, the biggest blazes are under control.But the value of the aerial firefighters continues to be seen, with a fast-moving fire that erupted on Wednesday corralled by the time night fell after an airborne assault.For the people of Los Angeles, the men and women who have fought this battle are second to none.”We should never stop thanking them,” Los Angeles-based talk show host Jimmy Kimmel said.”Real superheroes.”

‘Living in a cage’: West Bank checkpoints proliferate after Gaza truce

Father Bashar Basiel moved freely in and out of his parish in the occupied West Bank until Israeli troops installed gates at the entrance of his village Taybeh overnight, just hours after a ceasefire began in Gaza.”We woke up and we were surprised to see that we have the iron gates in our entrance of Taybeh, on the roads that are going to Jericho, to Jerusalem, to Nablus,” said Basiel, a Catholic priest in the Christian village north of Ramallah.All over the West Bank, commuters have been finding that their journey to work takes much longer since the Gaza ceasefire started.”We have not lived such a difficult situation (in terms of movement) since the Second Intifada,” Basiel told AFP in reference to a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.He said he was used to the checkpoints, which are dotted along the separation barrier that cuts through much of the West Bank and at the entrances to Palestinian towns and cities. But while waiting times got longer in the aftermath of the October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war, now it has become almost impossible to move between cities and villages in the West Bank.- Concrete blocks, metal gates -Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli authorities ordered the military to operate dozens of checkpoints around the West Bank during the first 42 days of the ceasefire.According to the Palestinian Wall Resistance Commission, 146 iron gates were erected around the West Bank after the Gaza war began, 17 of them in January alone, bringing the total number of roadblocks in the Palestinian territory to 898.”Checkpoints are still checkpoints, but the difference now is that they’ve enclosed us with gates. That’s the big change,” said Anas Ahmad, who found himself stuck in traffic for hours on his way home after a usually open road near the university town of Birzeit was closed.Hundreds of drivers were left idling on the road out of the city as they waited for the Israeli soldiers to allow them through.The orange metal gates Ahmad was referring to are a lighter version of full checkpoints, which usually feature a gate and concrete shelters for soldiers checking drivers’ IDs or searching their vehicles.”The moment the truce was signed, everything changed 180 degrees. The Israeli government is making the Palestinian people pay the price,” said Ahmad, a policeman who works in Ramallah.Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani did not comment on whether there had been an increase in the number of checkpoints but said the military used them to arrest wanted Palestinian militants.”We make sure that the terrorists do not get away but the civilians have a chance to get out or go wherever they want and have their freedom of movement,” he said in a media briefing on Wednesday.- ‘Like rabbits in a cage’ -Basiel said that now, when the gates are closed, “I have to wait, or I have to take another way” into Taybeh, a quiet village known for its brewery.He said that on Monday people waited in their cars from 4:00 pm to 2:00 am while each vehicle entering the village was meticulously checked.Another Ramallah area resident, who preferred not to be named for security reasons, compared his new environment to that of a caged animal.”It’s like rabbits living in a cage. In the morning they can go out, do things, then in the evening they have to go home to the cage,” he said.Shadi Zahod, a government employee who commutes daily between Salfit and Ramallah, felt similarly constrained.”It’s as if they’re sending us a message: stay trapped in your town, don’t go anywhere”, he told AFP.”Since the truce, we’ve been paying the price in every Palestinian city,” he said, as his wait at a checkpoint in Birzeit dragged into a third hour.- Impossible to make plans -Before approving the Gaza ceasefire, Israel’s security cabinet reportedly added to its war goals the “strengthening of security” in the West Bank.Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel “is merely shifting its focus from Gaza to other areas it controls in the West Bank”.A 2019 academic paper by Jerusalem’s Applied Research Institute estimated that at the time Palestinians lost 60 million work hours per year to restrictions.But for Basiel, the worst impact is an inability to plan even a day ahead.”The worst thing that we are facing now, is that we don’t have any vision for the near future, even tomorrow.”

Asian markets build on Trump rally, yen climbs after BoJ cut

Asian markets rose Friday after a record day on Wall Street in response to Donald Trump’s tax-cut pledge, while the yen strengthened after a widely expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan.In a much-anticipated speech via video link at the Davos World Forum in Switzerland, the president pushed for lower interest rates and said he would cut taxes for companies investing in the United States while imposing tariffs on those who do not.He also called on Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, adding that “when the oil comes down, it’ll bring down prices” and in turn bring interest rates down. His comments come after he said on the campaign trail that he would slash taxes, regulations and immigration while hitting key trading partners with tariffs.That fuelled worries among some economists that he could reignite inflation and cause the Federal Reserve to pause its recent run of rate cuts, or even increase them.US traders appeared to welcome the speech, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high, while the Dow and Nasdaq also advanced.Asia mostly followed suit, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul and Bangkok all up, though Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai, Jakarta and Manila slipped.Markets have enjoyed a broadly positive start to the president’s second term amid relief that while he has warned about imposing big tariffs on key partners, he has so far been less abrasive than his first four years.Matt Burdett and Adam Sparkman at Thornburg Investment Management said that could be due to circumstances.”Eight years ago, Trump’s aggressive trade policies were implemented against a backdrop of low inflation and low rates, creating room for bold actions,” they said in a commentary. “Today, elevated price levels are a key concern for voters and policymakers alike. Given this reality, we question if Trump’s tariff posturing may now be aimed more at pressuring China and other foreign countries into negotiating favourable trade terms for the US.”- Japan hikes rates -The Bank of Japan on Friday lifted borrowing costs to their highest level since 2008 in a well-telegraphed move, with data showing another jump in inflation last month that reinforced expectations for further tightening.”Japan’s economic activity and prices have been developing generally in line with the Bank’s outlook, and the likelihood of realising the outlook has been rising,” the bank said in a statement.The yen rallied against the dollar after officials flagged that more increases were likely in the pipeline as inflation remains elevated and officials slowly withdraw stimulus that has kept monetary policy at ultra-loose levels for years.”With no market turbulence after Trump’s inauguration,” conditions for the BoJ to hike its policy rate have been met, said Ko Nakayama, chief economist of Okasan Securities Research.”Raising just 25 basis points to 0.5 percent won’t cool the economy,” he said. Moody’s Analytics said “the weak yen is a key reason” for the hike, along with a run of forecast-beating inflation prints.The yen has come under pressure against the dollar in recent months after the Fed dialled back its expectations for rate cuts this year and the concerns over Trump’s impact on inflation.The BoJ decision comes ahead of the Fed’s meeting next week, which will be closely watched for its views on the outlook under the new president.Oil prices extended Thursday’s losses after Trump’s call to Riyadh and OPEC, with a recent build in US stockpiles adding to the weakness.- Key figures around 0400 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.4 percent at 40,105.92Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.8 percent at 20,057.46 (break)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,253.79 (break)Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.50 yen from 156.03 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.0447 from $1.0415Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2394 from $1.2352Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.30 pence from 84.31 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $74.47 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $78.14 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.9 percent at 44,565.07 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,565.20 (close)