Man jailed for using AI songs and bots to steal $8M in streaming royalties

A man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for a music streaming fraud scheme. He used approximately 10,000 bots to artificially inflate play counts for songs generated by artificial intelligence. The scheme illegally siphoned approximately $8 million in royalty payments from streaming platforms. The operation was notable for generating streams that briefly surpassed those of major artists like Taylor Swift. The sentencing occurred following a federal investigation into the fraud.