Source: Fox News
“A North Carolina man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after prosecutors said he used AI, or super intelligence, to create music and thousands of bots to fraudulently collect more than $8 million in streaming royalties. Michael Smith, 54, of Cornelius, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced Oct. 6, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. … From 2017 to 2024, Smith created thousands of fake accounts on streaming platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, prosecutors said. He then used automated software to continuously stream songs he owned, many of which were generated using AI technology, allowing him to collect royalty payments for streams that did not come from real listeners.” (10/12/26)