Kathmandu, Aug. 5 -- On June 29, singer Sugam Pokharel posted a status on Facebook with a stern warning. He issued an immediate demand for the removal of unauthorised AI-generated content utilising his or other artists' works. "If you ignore this request," he wrote, "we will have no choice but to bring you within the jurisdiction of the law, wherever you may be, in Nepal or anywhere else in the world." The status included screenshots of AI covers of his originals uploaded on Youtube and Tiktok.

Pokharel says he first learned his songs were being run through AI months earlier, not from any platform notification but from listeners who told him directly.

He says he is not opposed to AI itself. He uses apps like Suno, the AI music creation ...