Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has initiated a civil lawsuit against Google, claiming the online giant defamed him by falsely identifying him as a sex offender in an AI-generated summary.
In December, the Juno Award-winning musician said he learned about the misinformation after a First Nation north of Halifax confronted him with the summary and cancelled one of his concerts.
In a statement of claim filed in February with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, MacIsaac says the summary falsely asserted that he had been convicted of a series of offences including sexual assault, internet luring involving a child and assaulting a woman.
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As well, the lawsuit says the summary wrongly accused MacIsaac of being listed on the national sex offender registry.
None of the claims in the lawsuit have been tested in court.
Google Canada issued a statement in December saying its summaries, known as “AI Overviews,” are frequently changed to provide the most “helpful” information, and when online content is misinterpreted, those mistakes are used to improve the system.
In previous interviews, the virtuoso fiddler has said the inaccurate claims were taken from online articles regarding a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name.
MacIsaac’s statement of claim says he is seeking $1.5 million in damages from Google LLC.
“As the creator and operator of the AI Overview, Google is also liable for injuries and losses arising from the AI Overview’s defective design,” the lawsuit says. “Google knew, or ought to have known, that the AI Overview was imperfect, and could return information that was untrue.
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