SDNY: North Carolina Musician Charged with Music Streaming Fraud Aided by Artificial Intelligence
Press release from the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, September 4, 2024
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Christie M. Curtis, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a three-count criminal Indictment charging MICHAEL SMITH in connection with a scheme to create hundreds of thousands of songs with artificial intelligence and use automated programs called “bots” to stream the AI-generated songs billions of times. SMITH fraudulently obtained more than $10 million in royalty payments through his scheme. SMITH was arrested today and will be presented before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in North Carolina.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Michael Smith fraudulently streamed songs created with artificial intelligence billions of times in order to steal royalties. Through his brazen fraud scheme, Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters, and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed. Today, thanks to the work of the FBI and the career prosecutors of this Office, it’s time for Smith to face the music.”
