Canadian Fiddler Sues Google After AI WRONGLY Claims He's a Sex Offernder

1,628 Views | 18 Replies | Last: 4 hrs ago by combat wombat™
combat wombat™
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4:10p, 5/8/26
AG
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/canadian-ashley-macisaac-fiddler-musician-singer-songwriter-sues-google-ai-sex-offender-ntwnfb

Quoting:


An acclaimed Canadian fiddle player has launched a $1.5m civil lawsuit against Google, alleging that the online giant defamed him by falsely identifying him as a sex offender in an AI-generated summary of his life and career.

Ashley MacIsaac, a three-time Juno award-winning musician, filed the claim in the Ontario superior court of justice, asserting that Google was liable for the "foreseeable republication" of its AI-generated Overview feature, which previously published defamatory claims that he had been convicted of multiple criminal offences, including the sexual assault of a woman, internet luring involving a child with the intention of sexual assaulting the child, and assault causing bodily harm.

Ending Quote.

How do we feel about AI ruining people's lives? Should Google be responsible when its AI makes mistakes and they don't correct them?

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4
backintexas2013
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4:13p, 5/8/26
AG
Fiddle Diddle. They rhyme but seem worlds apart.
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11
Who?mikejones!
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In reply to combat wombat™ • 4:14p, 5/8/26
A couple of questions:

1. Who was asking?
2. What were the prompts?
3. How was he harmed?
4. Thats what the lawsuit is for.
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ErnestEndeavor
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In reply to Who?mikejones! • 4:16p, 5/8/26
Google anything. At the top of the page the Google AI summary will summarize the search results. This guy is alleging the AI summary hallucinated him as a sex offender.
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EFR
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In reply to Who?mikejones! • 5:05p, 5/8/26
Considering he found out about it because a concert was cancelled due to the search results harm shouldn't be hard to prove.
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32
Urban Ag
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5:13p, 5/8/26
AG
Pandora's Box is wide open
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Silent For Too Long
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5:43p, 5/8/26
This is exactly why the fear mongering over LLMs is a bit premature at this juncture. They are inherently untrustworthy.
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Im Gipper
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In reply to Silent For Too Long • 5:48p, 5/8/26
Silent For Too Long said:
This is exactly why the fear mongering over LLMs is a bit premature at this juncture. They are inherently untrustworthy.


That's exactly why some of the fear mongering is warranted!

I'm Gipper
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combat wombat™
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In reply to Who?mikejones! • 7:10p, 5/8/26
AG
Who?mikejones! said:
A couple of questions:

1. Who was asking?
2. What were the prompts?
3. How was he harmed?
4. Thats what the lawsuit is for.


Did you read the article?
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Who?mikejones!
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In reply to combat wombat™ • 7:11p, 5/8/26
At the time, no. I read the summary in the op

But #4 covers it
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BlackGold
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7:24p, 5/8/26
AG
Only $1.5mm? Should have taken Google to the woodshed over this.
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IIIHorn
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7:48a
Gratuitous violins.


( ...voice punctuated with a clap of distant thunder... )
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AustinAg2K
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7:55a
Google is dumb of they don't just give him the money for this to go away.
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zephyr88
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In reply to AustinAg2K • 8:37a
AG
AustinAg2K said:
Google is dumb of they don't just give him the money for this to go away.

Google is worth zillions, dude low balled them at $1.5MM.
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Ginormus Ag
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10:08a
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Should have sued for a fiddle of gold.
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NE PA Ag
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10:17a
It's not clear from the article, but wouldn't the AI assist simply be collating information found on other sites? I know about the hallucination problems of AI, but this seems extreme if there's nothing out there at all about this. Could be that someone else with the same name got crossed with this guy.

Eta, he should sue the tribe organizing the concert for the pay he should have received (if he was being paid). Relying solely on an AI summary, or even Google search results pre-AI should make them liable.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." - J.S. Mill
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BQ78
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12:27p
AG
So is he a fiddler or not?
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Squadron7
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In reply to Ginormus Ag • 12:31p
AG
Ginormus Ag said:
Should have sued for a fiddle of gold.


I'd be crabby, too.
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combat wombat™
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In reply to NE PA Ag • 3:39p
AG
Maybe I misinterpreted the article but it seems to me that he told them the information was wrong and they didn't fix it

Wikipedia, for example, sometimes indicates on someone's profile that this is not about the other guy who is also named John Smith.
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