Michael Smith, a North Carolina man, has been convicted of the first-ever federal criminal case of streaming fraud in the US. Smith, who created hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs and used bots to generate billions of fraudulent streams, stole over $8 million from streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and will be sentenced on July 29. The maximum sentence is five years in prison. Smith was first indicted in 2024 when federal law enforcement discovered his scheme. In February 2026, Apple Music implemented stricter punishments for scammers, increasing fines depending on the amount of money siphoned from the royalty pool.