Fraudster jailed for using 10K bots and AI songs to outstream Taylor Swift
Man gets 18 months for AI scheme stealing $8M in music streaming royalties.
TL;DR
- Michael Smith, 54, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for AI-assisted music streaming fraud.
- He is the first American criminally charged with this type of fraud, which began in 2017.
- Smith used fake accounts and AI-generated songs to create billions of fraudulent streams on services like Spotify and Apple Music.
- His fake songs generated significantly more streams than top artists like Taylor Swift in some periods.
- The scheme defrauded artists by reducing royalty pools, resulting in Smith forfeiting over $8 million.
- Smith's lawyers argued against jail time, suggesting the DOJ was making an example and that jail would hinder his ability to repay.
- The DOJ countered that Smith used deceptive tactics, lied to investigators, and required a strong sentence for deterrence.