Alleged fraudster got 10 million in royalties using robots to stream AI-made music

A North Carolina man is facing fraud charges after allegedly uploading hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs to streaming services and using bots to play them billions of times. Michael Smith is said to have received over 10 million in royalties since 2017 via the scheme. Smith, 52, was arrested on Wednesday. An indictment [PDF] that was unsealed the same day accuses him of using the bots to steal royalty payments from platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Smith has been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.