Canadian musician sues Google over false sex offender claims
What's the story
Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of defamation. The lawsuit was filed in the Ontario superior court of justice after an AI-generated overview on Google wrongly labeled him as a sex offender. The false claims included allegations of sexual assault and child luring, and incorrectly stated that he was on Canada's national sex offender registry for life.
Legal claims
Lawsuit seeks $1.5M in damages
MacIsaac's lawsuit seeks $500,000 each in general, aggravated, and punitive damages. He learned about the misinformation when a concert with Sipekne'katik First Nation was canceled due to public complaints. The First Nation later apologized for their decision based on "incorrect information generated through an AI-assisted search." MacIsaac said he felt unsafe performing due to the false allegations and expressed concern about their impact on his career.
Criticism
What did the lawsuit say?
The lawsuit accuses Google of a "cavalier and indifferent response" to the false statements. It argues that if a human spokesperson had made these allegations, punitive damages would be justified. MacIsaac's statement through his lawyers emphasized the need to resolve this issue in court. Google previously stated they use such incidents to improve their systems.