US Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Music Streamers Out of Millions Using AI

This episode chronicles the landmark federal prosecution of Michael Smith, a North Carolina man who orchestrated a massive AI-driven streaming fraud scheme. Over several years, Smith used artificial intelligence to generate hundreds of thousands of songs and deployed automated bot armies to stream them billions of times. This manipulation allowed him to illicitly siphon over $8 million in royalties from platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, diverting funds away from legitimate artists. The report details the mechanics of the scam, Smith’s background, and his eventual guilty plea in 2026. Ultimately, the case serves as a critical warning about the economic and ethical threats posed by generative technology within the modern music industry.