KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 -- Malaysian music publishers are closely monitoring whether locally produced songs have been used without permission to train generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) models.

The concern follows an investigation by The Atlantic journalist Alex Reisner, who uncovered four massive datasets containing more than 21 million songs circulating within the AI development community.

Following the investigation, The Atlantic launched The AI Watchdog, a search engine that allows users to check whether works appear in the datasets.

A check by Malay Mail found at least 1,000 songs by Malaysian artistes, ranging from mainstream stars and veteran performers to independent acts.

National songstress Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza has a...