Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Streaming Services of $8 Million With AI-Generated Songs
2026-03-19
Rolling Stone
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Michael Smith, of North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after using AI to generate hundreds of thousands of fake songs and deploying bots to stream them billions of times. This scheme diverted over $8 million in royalties from legitimate artists via major platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event explicitly describes the use of AI-generated songs and automated bot streaming to commit wire fraud against streaming services, resulting in the theft of over $8 million in royalties. This constitutes a direct harm caused by the AI system's use, fulfilling the criteria for an AI Incident due to violation of intellectual property rights and economic harm to artists and rights holders.[AI generated]