Musician sentenced for AI-driven streaming royalty fraud
A North Carolina musician, Michael Smith, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to running a streaming fraud scheme using AI-generated songs and automated bots. Prosecutors said Smith and accomplices uploaded hundreds of thousands of AI-created tracks and used bot networks to generate billions of fraudulent streams, diverting over $8 million in royalties from streaming platforms and legitimate artists. Along with prison time, Smith must forfeit the $8 million.
- Smith sentenced to 18 months in prison
- Used bots and AI music for fake streams
- Illegally collected over $8 million in royalties
- Deprived genuine artists of royalty earnings
- First DOJ prosecution of AI-driven streaming fraud
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