TechnologyOctober 8, 2026

AI, Bots and Streaming Royalties: The Michael Smith Case

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② Start Lesson

Key Vocabulary

bot/bɒt/

A computer program that can run tasks automatically.

"A bot played songs many times."

royalty/ˈrɔɪ.əl.ti/

Money paid to a creator when someone uses their work.

"The singer got a small royalty for each stream."

forfeiture/fɔːrˈfiː.tʃər/

Money taken by the court as a penalty or repayment.

"He was ordered to pay forfeiture to the court."

Listening

AI, Bots and Streaming Royalties: The Michael Smith Case

Michael Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison on October 6, 2026. He used automated bot accounts and artificial intelligence to create songs and to stream them repeatedly.

His bot accounts played the AI-generated songs billions of times from 2017 to 2024. Smith collected more than $8 million in streaming royalties and was ordered to pay $8,091,843.64 and serve two years of supervised release after prison.

Streaming platforms pay artists from a pool of money each month. Bot streams take money from real artists and harm musicians and songwriters. The man is from Cornelius, North Carolina. He pleaded guilty on March 19, 2026.

104 words

Quiz

1. Who was sentenced?

2. How long was the prison sentence?

3. When was he sentenced?

Reading Practice

Read the article from the Listening section aloud. Your AI teacher will give you pronunciation feedback.

Discussion

Do you use music streaming services often? How do they affect your music choices?

Have you ever tried a family plan on a music app? What was your experience?

What do you think when you hear that bots can play songs many times?