Billion-stream ‘ghost artist’ exposed: North Carolina man pleads guilty in first-ever AI music fraud case, forfeits $8.1M | World News
It is a feat most Grammy winners never achieve: billions of streams across the world’s largest platforms. But for Michael Smith, a 54-year-old North Carolina resident, the “fans” didn’t exist. They were lines of code, and the music was “AI slop.”Smith has officially pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, marking the first-ever criminal…
