A New York court sentenced American musician Michael Smith to 18 months in prison after finding that he used artificial intelligence and fake user profiles to generate billions of streams on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Prosecutors say Smith uploaded AI-generated music and, between 2017 and 2024, earned more than $14 million from the scheme (equivalent to over HUF 4.5 billion at the time of reporting).
Financial penalties
According to MixMag, in addition to the prison sentence the court ordered Smith to pay $8,091,843.64 in restitution. Court filings indicate that Smith initially uploaded his own tracks, then began combining them with AI-generated material.
Method: AI tracks and bots
U.S. prosecutorial documents state that Smith ultimately uploaded "hundreds of thousands" of AI-generated tracks and used bots he created to produce fake plays. The records note that, by April 2023, his music had reached 80 million plays on YouTube Music alone.
Prosecutor's statement
"Michael Smith abused the opportunities provided by AI technology to commit fraud. Instead of serving human music consumers, he flooded streaming platforms with automated bots and replaced genuine creativity with deceptive songs. Smith thereby stole millions of dollars in royalties from real artists and their fans," said U.S. prosecutor Jamie McDonald after the sentence was handed down.
Why the case matters
The case highlights risks tied to AI-generated content and manipulation of streaming metrics: listened-to rankings and royalty distributions can be distorted, unauthorized parties can capture revenue, and it becomes harder to distinguish genuine artists from automated content producers. The court's ruling imposed both criminal and financial consequences intended to address the abuse and partially restore funds to those harmed.
