A 52-year-old North Carolina man pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for defrauding music streaming platforms out of millions of dollars using artificial intelligence and automated systems.

Michael Smith admitted to federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District that he created thousands of AI-generated songs and used automated "bots" to artificially inflate the number of streams into the billions. The scheme allowed him to collect royalty payments that would have otherwise gone to legitimate musicians and rights holders.

The fraud involved flooding major music streaming services with AI-generated content, then using sophisticated bot networks to simulate authentic listening activity. This artificial engagement generated substantial royalty payments from the platforms' compensation systems, which typically pay artists based on the number of streams their music receives.

Smith's guilty plea is part of a deal with federal prosecutors. The case highlights growing concerns about the manipulation of digital platforms through artificial intelligence and automated systems, particularly as AI-generated content becomes more sophisticated and harder to detect.

The scheme represents one of the first major prosecutions involving the use of AI to commit large-scale fraud against music streaming platforms. Details about the total amount defrauded and Smith's potential sentence were not immediately disclosed.