Cornelius man charged with artificially streaming AI-created music

CORNELIUS, N.C. — A Cornelius man is charged in the first-ever criminal case of artificially inflated music streaming.

Investigators say Michael Smith used AI to create hundreds of thousands of songs and then used automated bots to stream those songs billions of times.

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By doing that, authorities said Smith got more than $10 million in royalty payments. It amounted to about $1.2 million annually.

Smith faces wire fraud charges and investigators don’t think he worked alone.

“The defendant’s alleged scheme played upon the integrity of the music industry by a concerted attempt to circumvent the streaming platforms’ policies,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI remains dedicated to plucking out those who manipulate advanced technology to receive illicit profits and infringe on the genuine artistic talent of others.”

Each charge Smith faces comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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