A US court case is underway that could set precedents in the world of intellectual property as Michael Smith, a 52-year-old man from North Carolina, has been arrested and charged for using artificial intelligence (AI) and thousands bots fraudulently stream songs billions of times to claim millions of dollars in royalties.
That manHe is charged with three counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors say this is the first criminal case of its kind they have investigated.
“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 lawfully broadcast,” US lawyer Damian Williams said in a statement published by the BBC.
The most shameless thing is not so much the creation of works using AI, but the use of bots to transmit music and, above all, to receive royalties corresponding to its reproduction.
“The FBI remains committed to robbing those who manipulate cutting-edge technology for unfair advantage and prey on the genuine artistic talent of others,” said Acting FBI Deputy Director Christy M. Curtis.
According to him accusationMr Smith at some points managed up to 10,000 active bot accounts to broadcast his AI-generated leads.
According to the lawsuit, the evidence was provided to Mr. Smith as part of a partnership with the CEO of an unnamed artificial intelligence music company that he approached around 2018.
Music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube generally prohibit users from artificially inflating their stream counts to earn royalties and have taken steps to crack down or advise users on how to avoid the practice.
Source: Digital Trends
I am Garth Carter and I work at Gadget Onus. I have specialized in writing for the Hot News section, focusing on topics that are trending and highly relevant to readers. My passion is to present news stories accurately, in an engaging manner that captures the attention of my audience.
