IT Home On October 8, the US Department of Justice issued a statement on the local time of the 6th of this month, stating that Michael Smith, a man from North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay back $8 million (IT Home note: approximately 53.7 million RMB at current exchange rate) as illegal income obtained by using AI to defraud music copyright revenues.
Michael Smith in 2017–2024 created hundreds of thousands of songs using artificial intelligence. After that, through tens of thousands of fake accounts created with fake email addresses and illegally obtained debit cards, these songs were launched on streaming platforms. Then, using a massive matrix of robot accounts, fraudulent playback was carried out to generate illegal income.
The copyright is paid to songwriters and performers from the funding pool in proportion. Therefore, streaming fraud transfers the income that originally belongs to songwriters and performers who have legitimate users for their songs into the hands of those who use automation technology to create a false illusion of legitimate playback.