TLDR:
Key Points:
- Musician used AI to create songs and streamed them to collect over $10 million in royalties.
- Indictment states he created thousands of accounts to stream songs continuously, generating billions of streams.
Summary of Article
A North Carolina musician named Michael Smith was arrested for using artificial intelligence to create hundreds of thousands of songs that he streamed billions of times to collect over $10 million in royalty payments. Smith was charged with fraud and conspiracy that could result in up to 60 years in prison. The indictment said he created multiple accounts on streaming platforms to continuously stream songs, generating around 661,000 streams per day and earning $1.2 million annually in royalties. Smith used AI to create tens of thousands of songs to avoid suspicion and teamed up with an AI music company CEO and music promoter to carry out the scheme. Despite warnings of fraud in 2018, Smith denied any wrongdoing and continued to boast about his earnings from fake streams. The FBI emphasized the misuse of technology for illicit profits at the expense of genuine artistic talent.