Irish singer Hozier has said he would consider striking over the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) to the music industry. The 33-year-old said he would be willing to join similar action to the US actors and writers’ strikes, who are fighting for better contracts and protection against the use of AI in the industry. Members of US acting union Sag-Aftra and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) began industrial action on July 14 and May 2 respectively. Appearing on BBC’s Newsnight, Hozier responded to presenter Victoria Derbyshire who asked if he could imagine going on strike over the threat AI poses to music. The Take Me To Church singer, whose real name is Andrew Hozier-Byrne, said: “Joining in solidarity if there was… action on that? Absolutely.” He later said: “Whether (AI is) art or not, I think, is nearly a philosophical debate. “It can’t create something based on a human experience. So I don’t know if it meets the definition of art.” Hozier’s comments come amid Hollywood concerns over proposals by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to use ground-breaking AI to keep a digital likeness of actors. The interview also heard the Grammy-nominated star discuss fellow Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who was found dead at her home in south-east London last month aged 56. He said he had been “walking on this road that she paved”, after she made headlines in 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on US TV show Saturday Night Live in protest at the Catholic church, sparking a ferocious backlash. In 2013, Hozier’s debut single Take Me To Church, in which he criticised the church’s teaching of “shame about sexual orientation”, reached number two in the UK official charts and achieved global success. Speaking about the difference in public reaction, he said: “I think sensibilities have changed. “I think part of it is because Sinead was a woman. I think a lot of it is she was one of the first who had that courage to stand up and say it. “That was such a taboo at the time.” He also revealed he had once been invited to perform Take Me To Church in the Vatican City, quipping: “That would’ve been fun.” The full interview will be broadcast on Newsnight at 10.30pm on BBC Two.

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The current outrage at Reddit will “pass”, its chief executive has said, as the site continues to deal with one of its most significant protests ever. In recent days, many of the site’s largest forums have gone “dark”, as moderators set them to private, meaning they cannot be seen by the world. The changes also meant that Reddit became overwhelmed and stopped working for a brief period on Monday. That was a response to a move by Reddit to start charging for access to its data, which meant that third-party apps for viewing the forum became unsustainable. Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman said that the protest was a “challenge” and “we have our work cut out for us”. Staff have been working around the clock to deal with technical problems and engage with the moderators who run those forums, he said in a memo that was first reported by The Verge. He also said that the company has “not seen any significant revenue impact so far and we will continue to monitor”. “There’s a lot of noise with this one. Among the noisiest we’ve seen,” he wrote. “Please know that our teams are on it, and like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well. The most important things we can do right now are stay focused, adapt to challenges, and keep moving forward.” He suggested that while two biggest third-party apps had announced they would be shutting down, along with some others. But he said that others were still in “conversations” with the company. Mr Huffman also advised staff that they should be “mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public”. “Some folks are really upset, and we don’t want you to be the object of their frustrations.” He also claimed that “starting last night, about a thousand subreddits have gone private”. That is far below third-party estimates, which suggest that the vast majority of the thousands of the site’s forums have gone dark. Reddit’s chief executive has been at the heart of the fallout over the changes at the site. He conducted an ask me anything session on the site, intended on quelling protest – but which was met with widespread criticism from the site’s users and moderators. Unlike other social networks such as Facebook, Reddit relies on unpaid moderators to check the content and administer the posts on its forums. As such, those moderators are able to make changes to the forums as they wish.

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