GoKawiilNorth Carolina man sentenced to 18 months for $8M AI music streaming fraud
Michael Smith of Cornelius, North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to forfeit over $8 million after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Between 2017 and 2024 he used 1,040 bot accounts to generate hundreds of millions of fake streams of AI-generated songs uploaded under fictitious artist names on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The case shows streaming platforms' royalty systems can be gamed at scale using AI-generated content and automated bot networks, potentially diverting real money away from legitimate artists. It may push streaming services to tighten fraud detection and could set a precedent for how prosecutors handle similar AI-enabled royalty schemes going forward.
- Smith used 1,040 bot accounts across 52 cloud services to stream AI-generated songs over 661,000 times daily
- The scheme generated more than $8 million in royalties before being uncovered
- He received 18 months in prison and must forfeit the fraudulent proceeds after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy
Source: techspot.com — Rob Thubron, 2026-10-08
Published there as: “Man who made $8 million using AI-generated songs and an army of streaming bots gets 18 months in prison”
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