While the rapid advancement in AI technology can bring revolutions across many industries, bad actors can use it to earn revenue through unethical means.

A North Carolina man has been found to have used “instant music” and AI agents to earn revenue of up to $10 million as streaming royalties.

The man named “Michael Smith” committed the crime from 2017 to 2024 before eventually getting caught by the FBI. According to the Indictment, Smith was found to have used nearly 10,000 AI bot agents to stream his AI music on various platforms.

You may have heard of bots before. Bots are usually agents that crawl the web to access information. However, they can also be used to do a specific task on the web such as data entry, form filling, or in this case, signing up on various streaming platforms with false information, abiding by the rules and agreement of streaming platforms, and then streaming the specific songs to profit the bad actor.

Smith created thousands of AI bots to stream the AI-generated music which he uploaded to various streaming platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music and etc.

It would appear suspicious to the streaming platform if a single piece of music receives a large number of views, especially if it’s not mainstream music. Therefore, to avoid detection of AI bots streaming the music (and not the humans), the man thought of uploading thousands of songs to spread the views earned through illegal streaming.

He took the help of a promoter of an AI music company and wrote emails to them requesting thousands of AI-generated songs in a short period.

In a 2019 email recovered by the authorities, Smith was told by the promoter “Keep in mind what we’re doing musically here… this is not ‘music,’ it’s ‘instant music’ ;).”

The AI bot agents used fake names and other information to set up the account on multiple streaming services and stream the songs. The prosecutors stated that the man was fully aware that the streams were being viewed by the bot’s account instead of an actual human on whom the streaming company relies for views.

According to the reports, Smith would often generate fake artists’ names to portray that the music was generated by humans and not through any artificial means. Almost every platform prohibits the uploading of AI-generated music.

Some platforms like Spotify have specified to a website that they are not against AI generated music as long it does not violate its other policies.

Smith has been charged with three crimes namely wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. If proven guilty of the charges, Smith may have to face 20 years in prison for each crime.

“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.”