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Man Arrested for Creating Fake Bands With AI, Then Making $10 Million by Listening to Their Songs With Bots (futurism.com)

submitted 2 months ago by ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net to c/technology@lemmy.world

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The songs that the AI CEO provided to Smith originally had file names full of randomized numbers and letters such as "n_7a2b2d74-1621-4385-895d-b1e4af78d860.mp3," the DOJ noted in its detailed press release.

When uploading them to streaming platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, the man would then change the songs' names to words like "Zygotes," "Zygotic," and "Zyme Bedewing," whatever that is.

The artist naming convention also followed a somewhat similar pattern, with names ranging from the normal-sounding "Calvin Mann" to head-scratchers like "Calorie Event," "Calms Scorching," and "Calypso Xored."

To manufacture streams for these fake songs, Smith allegedly used bots that stream the songs billions of times without any real person listening. As with similar schemes, the bots' meaningless streams were ultimately converted to royalty paychecks for the people behind them.

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[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 50 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Maybe a stupid question but.... what exactly was illegal about this? I'm sure there were ToS or EULAs violated, but what law is he being charged on?

[–] hayes_@sh.itjust.works 38 points 2 months ago (2 children)

3rd sentence of the article:

Indicted on three counts involving money laundering and wire fraud, the Charlotte-area man faces a maximum of 20 years per charge.

If you follow the article to the press release:

SMITH, 52, of Cornelius, North Carolina, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Those are the charges yes, but how is this any different than what all sorts of corporations do

[–] aphonefriend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 2 months ago

The difference is he was a poor trying to pull himself up. Corporations are glorious entities that can do no wrong in American law.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Ah thanks. I didn't follow to the release page and just skimmed the article, should have read closer.

[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's fraud I'm assuming. They fake "plays" for Spotify to reward by sending payment, but these plays were people that did not exist. Spotify was paying for ghosts to essentially steam music

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Facebook and other social media corporations use AI bots to generate "views" to inflate their traffic numbers to entice advertisers. They also use bots to piss people off and drive "engagement.". Which is also fraud.

[–] Mammothmothman@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

Its not wrong when a corporation does it its capitalism. When an individual does it its crime.