1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 Okay, now Chelsea, I have about 10 different ways the world is screwed that we didn't really know before articles. 2 00:00:07,300 --> 00:00:09,300 But screw that. I have a fun one. 3 00:00:09,300 --> 00:00:11,000 I like that that's the one you chose. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,800 It's a follow-up to our AI saga. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,700 This comes from a website called Futurism. I've never heard of it before. 6 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:18,600 It's just too fun to pass up. 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,300 And it kind of makes sense because it's an AI follow-up. 8 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:27,000 Anyhow, this is written by Nor Al Sabay, September 6th, 2024. 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Very recent. 10 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Article title. 11 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Man arrested for creating fake bands with AI, 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,000 and then making $10 million by listening to their songs with bots. 13 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,500 Wait, does this work for podcasts too? 14 00:00:38,500 --> 00:00:40,000 Well, let's find out. 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Okay, let's... 16 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Also, remember, he's been arrested. 17 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,500 Why would he be arrested for... let's find out. 18 00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:47,500 Let's find out. 19 00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:49,000 So many questions already. 20 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:56,000 An alleged scammer has been arrested under suspicion that he used AI to create a wild number of fake bands and fake music to go with them. 21 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,500 And faking untold streams with more bots to earn millions in ill-gotten revenue. 22 00:01:00,500 --> 00:01:04,700 In a press release, the Department of Justice announced that investigators have arrested 23 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:08,000 52-year-old North Carolina man Michael Smith, 24 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:16,000 who has been charged with a purportedly seven-year scheme that involved using his real-life music skills to make more than $10 million in royalties. 25 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Indicted on three counts involving money laundering and wire fraud, 26 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,500 the Charlotte Airely Man faces a maximum of 20 years per charge. 27 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:29,000 With bona fide artists struggling to make ends meet via music streaming services, 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Smith allegedly worked with the help of two unnamed accomplices, 29 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 a music promoter and the CEO of an AI music firm, 30 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,000 to create, as the indictment states, 31 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,000 quote, hundreds of thousands of songs that were then fraudulently streamed, 32 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:44,000 end quote. 33 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000 We need to get a ton of songs fast. 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Smith emailed his alleged cool conspirators in late 2018 35 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 to make this work around the anti-fraud policies these guys are all using now. 36 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Around that same time, the CEO of the AI music company, 37 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,000 which is also not the name, began allegedly providing the musician with thousands of songs on a weekly basis. 38 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Smith, in turn, would then use automation to generate tons of listens for the crappy tunes. 39 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 Which, I feel that's editorializing, we don't know if all of them are crappy. 40 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 AI can make some good songs. 41 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Yeah. 42 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:21,000 But keep in mind what we're doing musically here, the CEO wrote an email to the defendant that the DOJ released. 43 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,000 This is not music, it is instant music. 44 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:30,000 The songs that the AI CEO provided to Smith originally had file names full of randomized numbers and letters, 45 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 such as, I'm not going to read that. 46 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 The DOJ noted in his detailed press release, 47 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:42,000 when uploading them to streaming platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, 48 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:49,000 the man would then change the song's name to words like Zygote, Zygotic, and ZymeBadooing, whatever that is. 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 The artist's naming convention also followed a somewhat similar pattern, 50 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 with names ranging from the normal sounding Calvin Man, 51 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:03,000 to headscratchers like Calary Event, Combs Scorching, and Clipso Xord, X-O-R-E-D. 52 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:11,000 To manufacture strings for these songs, Smith allegedly used bots that streamed the songs billions of times without any real person listening. 53 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:17,000 In similar schemes, the bots' meaningless streams were ultimately converted into royalty paychecks for the people behind them. 54 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,000 When, reached by the New York Times regarding the extremely well-documented allegations of fraud and streaming platform manipulation, 55 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Smith issued a hilariously affronted statement. 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Quote, this is absolutely wrong and crazy. There's absolutely no fraud going on whatsoever. How can I appeal this? 57 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 End quote is what Michael Smith said. End quote, end of article. 58 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,000 I feel the same way he does at the end of the article. What was wrong with what he did? 59 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Yeah, I honestly don't know what the Department of Justice is doing stepping in. 60 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:55,000 And they even highlight at the beginning of the article that music streaming services are screwing over actual artists. 61 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 So maybe they should be going after those, but at the same time. 62 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Maybe they're confused about their role in this. 63 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:10,000 Yeah, I mean, I've heard some pretty good. I've recommended him before Aaron Brown, who's a fantastic, I guess, a political comedy commentator 64 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,000 who uses AI music just profoundly well. 65 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:20,000 It has its place. It can be great. There's nothing as far as I know copyright infringing or illegal about it. 66 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:26,000 There's nothing copyright infringing or illegal about bots. So I'm just very confused as to what actually happened here. 67 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Okay, so we're just feeling confused by the end of this article. One, and how to do this. 68 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Number two, why he's in trouble. 69 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:44,000 And who knows? Maybe we turn this whole story into a song, a melodic rock opera about the man whose ill-gotten fortune set him for doom. 70 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 I don't know. The AI can fill in at this point. 71 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Yeah, exactly. That'll be a nice song here in which hopefully we don't get in trouble over. 72 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Yeah, but in the meantime, you guys got 48 hours to make your own song. 73 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:24,000 This is the crazing our greatness, and we'll see you for your Halloween episode on Friday. Bye.