Michael Smith, a defendant in the United States who mass-uploaded artificial intelligence (AI)-generated songs and collected billions of plays, has asked a federal court to impose no prison time after pleading guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution.
In a sentencing memorandum filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Smith’s attorneys argued that his conduct caused only “tiny, immeasurable losses” spread across millions of songwriters and artists. The filing states that no individual artist or songwriter suffered “any perceptible harm from Mr. Smith’s conduct,” because each stream’s effect on the total royalty pool is extremely small.
Sentencing positions#
- Maximum sentence: five years in prison
- Federal sentencing guidelines: 46 to 57 months
- U.S. Probation Office recommendation: 24 months
His lawyers asked the judge to consider his lack of a criminal record, his history of good deeds, and the effect a two-year prison term would have on his family.
The defense filing also contends that major corporate entities engage in streaming fraud at a systemic level, and that sentencing Smith alone would not affect the broader issue.
Case status#
Smith was due to be sentenced in July, but no sentencing has taken place and no new date has appeared on the public docket. The sentence he ultimately receives will set a precedent as the first in the United States for AI-assisted streaming fraud.
