From Ars Technica · · 1m 20s
AI fraudster jailed for streaming billions of fake songs
A North Carolina man used artificial intelligence and thousands of bot accounts to generate fake streams worth millions, outstreaming Taylor Swift in one month.
In brief
A North Carolina man used artificial intelligence and thousands of bot accounts to generate fake streams worth millions, outstreaming Taylor Swift in one month. Michael Smith, fifty four, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for running a seven year streaming fraud scheme using AI generated songs and bot…
First AI streaming fraud conviction
Michael Smith, a fifty four year old from North Carolina, pleaded guilty to using artificial intelligence to generate songs for a streaming fraud scheme.
Seven years of undetected fraud
Starting in twenty seventeen, Smith created thousands of fraudulent accounts on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music using fake email accounts and fraudulently obtained debit cards.
Billions of streams from AI songs
Smith generated hundreds of thousands of AI generated songs and dispersed billions of automated streams among them to avoid detection.
“Smith's fake songs were fraudulently streamed 80.9 million times during that month, while Taylor Swift's entire catalog only got 9.3 million streams during the same time period.”
Eighteen months prison and eight million forfeiture
Smith was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and ordered to forfeit eight million ninety one thousand eight hundred forty three dollars and sixty four cents.
DOJ rejected leniency plea
Smith's lawyers urged the court to impose probation instead, saying he was profoundly sorry and had a job offer paying five thousand dollars per month in audio production.
“The Court should impose a sentence that adequately punishes the defendant for his fraud scheme and sends a message to others that streaming fraud will be met with significant punishment.”
The essence
Michael Smith, fifty four, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for running a seven year streaming fraud scheme using AI generated songs and bot accounts that stole millions from music platforms.
