A Canadian who duped journalists in an elaborate AI music hoax says he apologizes to anyone hurt by his experiment but that it’s been “too fascinating” to turn away from.
A man using the pseudonym Andrew Frelon posed as the spokesperson for a band called The Velvet Sundown — which he later said he had no involvement with — creating a media frenzy that propelled the AI-assisted “band” to a million monthly listeners on Spotify.
He spoke with CBC News over the phone Friday on condition that his real name not be revealed. CBC News agreed not to use his real name because he fears harassment based on the hateful messages he’s received online, and worries he would lose work if identified.
The sticky online saga began when the band appeared on music streaming platforms several weeks ago and amassed hundreds of thousands of streams from two full-length albums.
Its blend of laid-back 1970s-inspired rock and modern indie pop appeared on several popular Spotify playlists, including one featuring Vietnam War songs.
But savvy listeners noticed something was off. The band’s supposed members had no digital footprint, and there was no record of them ever having performed live. The album art and profile photo, featuring four shaggy-haired rockers, also carried hallmarks of generative AI.
But as the controversy gained steam, an account on social media platform X purporting to represent the band emphatically denied that any of the music was created by artificial intelligence, calling the accusations “lazy” and “baseless.”
CBC reached out to the X account on Wednesday and attempted to arrange an interview through a Gmail account purporting to represent the band.
Then, a man calling himself Andrew Frelon told Rolling Stone, in an article that was published online later that day, that he is behind The Velvet Sundown and the X account, and that he used generative AI platform Suno to create the songs. He called the project an “art hoax.”
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But just as the mystery appeared to be solved, a different X account linked to the official Velvet Sundown Spotify page posted a statement saying Frelon has nothing to do with the band.
“Someone is attempting to hijack the identity of The Velvet Sundown,” said the statement, which also appeared on the band’s Spotify and Instagram accounts on Thursday.
That same day, Frelon, who gave the Rolling Stone interview, posted a lengthy blog confirming he had nothing to do with the band and that nearly everything he told the magazine, including his name, was a lie.
The actual band’s identity was once again a mystery. It turned out the hoax was, in fact, part of a bigger hoax.
‘It’s too fascinating of a mystery’
Speaking with CBC News on Friday, Frelon maintained that he has “zero” connection to the Velvet Sundown.
Asked about his motivation for maintaining such a complicated ruse, Frelon said the way the whole thing has played out has become like “artistic jet fuel.”
“There’s so many weird cultural, technical things at play here. It’s too fascinating of a mystery for me to turn away from,” he said.
The real person behind Andrew Frelon is an expert on web platform safety and policy issues, with extensive experience using generative AI. He was born in the United States but lives in Canada.
A man calling himself Andrew Frelon says he used AI to generate this image of The Velvet Sundown. (Andrew Frelon)
Several major American publications have interviewed him about his other AI projects and safety and policy issues work.
CBC News verified his identity through screen shots and a Signal video chat. Frelon sent screen shots of his correspondence with Rolling Stone to confirm he was the person who did that interview.
Frelon said he attempted last year to monetize his own AI music project with a friend. Certain that The Velvet Sundown was generated by AI, and surprised by its seemingly overnight success, he decided to become the band’s de-facto publicist as a “social engineering” experiment.
To further sow confusion, Frelon shared posts made by the official Velvet Sundown X account, to intentionally make it look like it was connected to the account he runs. He also generated and posted AI “photos” of the band in various settings and scenarios, and said he used ChatGPT when initially responding to reporters.
Part of his intention with the Velvet Sundown experiment, he said, was blurring reality and trying to see how diligently members of the media would work to verify his identity.
“I’m really exploiting the uncertainty,” he said. “And I think that’s the art.”
His experiment also highlighted the ease of creating deceptive content and the speed with which it spreads.
Frelon said he ultimately hopes to advance the conversation around generative AI, and its risks and benefits.
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In the process, however, he said he’s received a flood of hateful messages and acknowledged that the prank has upset some people.
“I didn’t mean to do it maliciously, although obviously some of the techniques I used were underhanded and not very cool,” he said. “I recognize that, and I apologize for those people affected.”
Frelon’s hoax supercharged The Velvet Sundown’s success; the band’s audience has grown by about 700,000 monthly listeners on Spotify since his hoax started, hitting one million on Saturday.
In yet another twist, the band’s official X account admitted on Saturday to its use of AI after playing coy for weeks, saying in a social media statement it is a “synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence.”
Frelon used AI to generate this image of The Velvet Sundown at a gala. (Andrew Frelon)
It is still not clear who is behind The Velvet Sundown, and its X account has not responded to interview requests from CBC News.
Frelon said he received a message from The Velvet Sundown’s X account on Saturday, insisting he rename his account and delete all references to the band being “100% human-generated.”
Frelon’s X page is now marked as a “parody” account.
Laszlo Tamasi, the man behind hard-rock act The Devil Inside, which has millions of Spotify streams, admitted in June he uses AI to make the music and generate the band’s imagery, after fans and music writers raised questions.
Other popular artists, like “dark country” act Aventhis and provocative soul singer Nick Hustles, have similarly been revealed to be AI creations with behind-the-scenes input from humans.
Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter Ian Janes, who had his own battle with AI music after a seemingly AI-generated project popped up on Spotify using his name, said in some ways, the music industry has set the stage for an AI takeover by relying so heavily on technology-assisted techniques like quantizing and pitch-correcting.
He said listeners have become so accustomed to technology-aided “perfection” in recorded music that when they hear an AI-generated song, it might seem indistinguishable from something made by real people. Conversely, when a human voice goes out of key, or a song speeds up or slows down, people might perceive that as an error.
“The conditioning of our ears to algorithmic perfection in music has set the stage for AI to be poised to just take that job from us,” Janes said.
The Velvet Sundown initially raised suspicions in part because its name seemed derivative of acts like the Velvet Underground and Sunset Rubdown, and its song titles and lyrics also seemed to lack originality. Its most-streamed song, Dust on the Wind, for example, recalls the 1977 Kansas hit Dust in the Wind.
But Alexander Olson, a senior research associate at the University of Toronto’s faculty of applied science and engineering who researches AI, said it’s becoming increasingly challenging for the average person to identify AI in all mediums.
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“It’s made even harder in this setting, because a lot of people are relying on Spotify to choose songs for them and to make those recommendations,” he said.
Winnipeg-based music critic Darryl Sterdan calls the Velvet Sundown’s music “generic” and “forgettable,” and said AI is not yet at the point where it can reproduce the soul and “indefinable humanity” behind worthwhile songs.
But he predicts it won’t be long before AI generates a genuine chart-topping global pop hit, ultimately forcing institutions like the Grammys and Junos to “formally reward” AI creations in a bid to remain relevant. “Then, the deluge will truly begin,” he said.
WHO Director-General’s remarks at the XVII BRICS Leaders’ Summit, session on Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic-Financial Affairs, and Artificial Intelligence – 6 July 2025
Excellencies, Heads of State, Heads of Government,
Heads of delegation,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you, President Lula, and Brazil’s BRICS Presidency for your commitment to equity, solidarity, and multilateralism.
My intervention will focus on three key issues: challenges to multilateralism, cuts to Official Development Assistance, and the role of AI and other digital tools.
First, we are facing significant challenges to multilateralism.
However, there was good news at the World Health Assembly in May.
WHO’s Member States demonstrated their commitment to international solidarity through the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement. South Africa co-chaired the negotiations, and I would like to thank South Africa.
It is time to finalize the next steps.
We ask the BRICS to complete the annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing so that the Agreement is ready for ratification at next year’s World Health Assembly. Brazil is co-chairing the committee, and I thank Brazil for their leadership.
Second, are cuts to Official Development Assistance.
Compounding the chronic domestic underinvestment and aid dependency in developing countries, drastic cuts to foreign aid have disrupted health services, costing lives and pushing millions into poverty.
The recent Financing for Development conference in Sevilla made progress in key areas, particularly in addressing the debt trap that prevents vital investments in health and education.
Going forward, it is critical for countries to mobilize domestic resources and foster self-reliance to support primary healthcare as the foundation of universal health coverage.
Because health is not a cost to contain, it’s an investment in people and prosperity.
Third, is AI and other digital tools.
Planning for the future of health requires us to embrace a digital future, including the use of artificial intelligence. The future of health is digital.
AI has the potential to predict disease outbreaks, improve diagnosis, expand access, and enable local production.
AI can serve as a powerful tool for equity.
However, it is crucial to ensure that AI is used safely, ethically, and equitably.
We encourage governments, especially BRICS, to invest in AI and digital health, including governance and national digital public infrastructure, to modernize health systems while addressing ethical, safety, and equity issues.
WHO will be by your side every step of the way, providing guidance, norms, and standards.
Excellencies, only by working together through multilateralism can we build a healthier, safer, and fairer world for all.
The voices of artificial intelligence (AI) are filling the world. If you ask a question, the answer will be immediately answered, and complex writings will be written in an instant. Even ‘writing’ is no longer a unique human domain. Some say that ’emotion’ is unique to humans, but is it. Some psychologists describe emotions as algorithmic structures called ‘information input → processing → output’. Isn’t it evidence that AI algorithms are good at expressing emotions. All of these flows eventually lead to burying. What makes humans human.
I find the answer in Death Awareness. We all know that one day we will die. A being who knows finiteness, and a being who can ask the question “why exists” in the face of that finiteness, that is human. The question begins with me personally and extends to humanity, nature, and space. Science, philosophy, and art were born in the process of exploring the essence of existence from me to the universe. In the first place, humans were able to raise civilization because they had that question.
In this sense, science is also two-pronged. One is the science of technology for application, and the other is the basic science that asks the source of existence, including humans and nature. No matter how advanced AI is, at the bottom of the technology is the root of basic science. Since AI mimics the neural network of the human brain, it could not exist without basic research on the neural network. Without the language of ‘mathematics’ found to explore the nature of nature and the universe, it was not possible to design an ‘artificial neural network’ called AI. In the end, the question of “why” asking the nature of existence was the basis for making AI possible.
But we are now too easily forgetting that foundation. In the presidential office, the AI officer is sitting above the science and technology secretary with the title of ‘Chief’, and the Minister of Science and ICT is also an AI expert. The policy is following the immediate industrial performance, and investors are flocking to AI startups rather than basic research. AI, a descendant of basic science, is now at the center of state administration, but its roots are being pushed to the fringes. Of course, AI is determining national competitiveness, so it is right and right for us to do well, but we must not forget to take care of its roots.
Many of the inventions we are familiar with, such as phonograph, light bulb, and semiconductor, are also products of basic science. In the case of the phonograph, it was 20 years after the invention that Edison acknowledged the use of ‘music playback’. Jared Diamond, the author of the bestselling book “Guns Milded Iron,” said that the adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” was wrong, citing the phonograph example. It was said that the real purpose was found only after the invention. If so, it should be said that invention begins with ‘possibility’ rather than ‘necessity’. There has always been basic science at the bottom of that possibility.
Korea also belatedly realized the importance of basic science and established the Institute of Basic Science in 2011. Based on the German Max Planck Institute (MPG), the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) was established. But investment remains poor. The IBS budget is one-tenth of the MPG. Nevertheless, Korean society is impatient to prove its achievements. I can’t stand the slowness and honesty of basic science.
However, the roots of civilization always grow slowly. Slowly building questions, not immediate industrial achievements, have sustained civilization. This huge wave, which we are now enthusiastic about AI, was also greeted by someone’s ‘why’. The next wave after AI will be no different. If we neglect basic science, we will be in a hurry to follow the next wave.
No matter how advanced AI develops in the future, humanity will survive as long as the question of “why” continues. Basic science, which explores the answer, is the last line of defense for humans not to give up being human.
Australian scientists have successfully developed a research system that uses ‘biological artificial intelligence’ to design and evolve molecules with new or improved functions directly in mammal cells. The researchers said this system provides a powerful new tool that will help scientists develop more specific and effective research tools or gene therapies. Named PROTEUS (PROTein Evolution Using Selection) the system harnesses ‘directed evolution’, a lab technique that mimics the natural power of evolution. However, rather than taking years or decades, this method accelerates cycles of evolution and natural selection, allowing them to create molecules with new functions in weeks. This could have a direct impact on finding new, more effective medicines. For example, this system can be applied to improve gene editing technology like CRISPR to improve its effectiveness.
Funder: Declaration: Alexandar Cole, Christopher Denes, Daniel Hesselson and Greg Neely have filed a provisional patent application on this technology The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
Media release
From: The University of Sydney
Australian scientists have successfully developed a research system that uses ‘biological artificial intelligence’ to design and evolve molecules with new or improved functions directly in mammal cells. The researchers said this system provides a powerful new tool that will help scientists develop more specific and effective research tools or gene therapies.
Named PROTEUS (PROTein Evolution Using Selection) the system harnesses ‘directed evolution’, a lab technique that mimics the natural power of evolution. However, rather than taking years or decades, this method accelerates cycles of evolution and natural selection, allowing them to create molecules with new functions in weeks.
This could have a direct impact on finding new, more effective medicines. For example, this system can be applied to improve gene editing technology like CRISPR to improve its effectiveness.
“This means PROTEUS can be used to generate new molecules that are highly tuned to function in our bodies, and we can use it to make new medicine that would be otherwise difficult or impossible to make with current technologies.” says co-senior author Professor Greg Neely, Head of the Dr. John and Anne Chong Lab for Functional Genomics at the University of Sydney.
“What is new about our work is that directed evolution primarily work in bacterial cells, whereas PROTEUS can evolve molecules in mammal cells.”
PROTEUS can be given a problem with uncertain solution like when a user feeds in prompts for an artificial intelligence platform. For example the problem can be how to efficiently turn off a human disease gene inside our body.
PROTEUS then uses directed evolution to explore millions of possible sequences that have yet to exist naturally and finds molecules with properties that are highly adapted to solve the problem. This means PROTEUS can help find a solution that would normally take a human researcher years to solve if at all.
The researchers reported they used PROTEUS to develop improved versions of proteins that can be more easily regulated by drugs, and nanobodies (mini versions of antibodies) that can detect DNA damage, an important process that drives cancer. However, they said PROTEUS isn’t limited to this and can be used to enhance the function of most proteins and molecules.
The findings were reported in Nature Communications, with the research performed at the Charles Perkins Centre, the University of Sydney with collaborators from the Centenary Institute.
Unlocking molecular machine learning
The original development of directed evolution, performed first in bacteria, was recognised by the 2018 Noble Prize in Chemistry.
“The invention of directed evolution changed the trajectory of biochemistry. Now, with PROTEUS, we can program a mammalian cell with a genetic problem we aren’t sure how to solve. Letting our system run continuously means we can check in regularly to understand just how the system is solving our genetic challenge,” said lead researcher Dr Christopher Denes from the Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences
The biggest challenge Dr Denes and the team faced was how to make sure the mammalian cell could withstand the multiple cycles of evolution and mutations and remain stable, without the system “cheating” and coming up with a trivial solution that doesn’t answer the intended question.
They found the key was using chimeric virus-like particles, a design consisting of taking the outside shell of one virus and combining it with the genes of another virus, which blocked the system from cheating.
The design used parts of two significantly different virus families creating the best of both worlds. The resulting system allowed the cells to process many different possible solutions in parallel, with improved solutions winning and becoming more dominant while incorrect solutions instead disappear.
“PROTEUS is stable, robust and has been validated by independent labs. We welcome other labs to adopt this technique. By applying PROTEUS, we hope to empower the development of a new generation of enzymes, molecular tools and therapeutics,” Dr Denes said.
“We made this system open source for the research community, and we are excited to see what people use it for, our goals will be to enhance gene-editing technologies, or to fine tune mRNA medicines for more potent and specific effects,” Professor Neely said.
