aceNorth Carolina man who used AI for music streaming fraud sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Michael Smith, who pleaded guilty earlier this year, was also ordered to pay over $8 million. According to the DOJ, that’s the amount he earned in royalties from using bots to stream hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs from 2017 to 2024. [Link: North Carolina Man Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Super Intelligence-Assisted Music Streaming Fraud | https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/north-carolina-man-sentenced-18-months-prison-super-intelligence-assisted-music | U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern Dis…
A North Carolina man used AI-generated songs and automated bots to fraudulently inflate streams and collect over $8 million in royalties, resulting in an 18-month federal prison sentence.
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- JournalismThe Verge2026-10-07
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Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-1310, v1: “North Carolina man who used AI for music streaming fraud sentenced to 18 months in prison..” Truvace, 2026-10-08. /record/TRV-2026-1310 (accessed at citation time). sha256 5a70fc1b49a8c30b…
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