US court sentences Michael Smith to 18 months for $8M AI-song streaming fraud

A US federal court sentenced Michael Smith to 18 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to using bots to stream AI-generated songs billions of times, earning over $8M in royalties in the first-ever criminal streaming fraud case.

• Smith used bots to stream AI-generated songs billions of times
• He earned more than $8M in fraudulent royalties
• Sentence: 18 months in prison
• First-ever criminal case over streaming fraud in the US