10 October 2026
Man jailed for using bots to fake streams of AI songs
First reported
Tom's Hardware ran this on , 2 days before the next source picked it up.
- Michael Smith, of North Carolina, used over 1,000 bots to inflate plays of his AI-generated songs on Spotify and other streaming services.
- Prosecutors say the scheme netted him more than $8 million in royalty payments, and he pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in March 2026.
- He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $8,091,843.64.
Reported by TechRadar, Tom's Hardware