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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Personal Finance / Macroeconomic Trends & Risks
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Author: Goofyhoofy ✸✹🐝🐝 HONORARY
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Number: of 4582 
Subject: Re: Are AI Vendors Cheating?
Date: 09/05/24 5:41 PM
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Well I don’t know about that, but a guy in North Carolina found a way to make millions by having thousands of fake AI songs produced by fake AI bands, and then streamed to fake AI listeners - and get paid for it by the various music streaming services.

The Bands and the Fans Were Fake. The $10 Million Was Real.

Federal prosecutors charged a North Carolina musician with gaming the system to win royalties from streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Penny by penny, he collected a very real $10 million, they said when they charged him with fraud.

The man, Michael Smith, 52, was accused in a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday of stealing royalty payments from digital streaming platforms for seven years. Mr. Smith, a flesh-and-blood musician, produced A.I.-generated music and played it billions of times using bots he had programmed, according to the indictment.

The supposed artists had names like “Callous Post,” “Calorie Screams” and “Calvinistic Dust” and produced tunes like “Zygotic Washstands,” “Zymotechnical” and “Zygophyllum” that were top performers on Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify, according to the charges.

“Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters, and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed,”

nytimes.com - Nc man charged AI fake music.

I am convinced that for every good action there is an equal and opposite bad action. Newton may have been right when it comes to physics, but I think my law of human behavior has more application.
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