The lawsuit comes amid rising issues about how AI fuels the unfold of misinformation.
Revealed On 22 Oct 2025
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck sued Google, alleging that the tech big’s synthetic intelligence programs generated “outrageously false” details about him.
On Wednesday, Starbuck mentioned within the lawsuit, filed in Delaware state court docket, that Google’s AI programs falsely known as him a “baby rapist,” “serial sexual abuser” and “shooter” in response to consumer queries and delivered defamatory statements to tens of millions of customers.
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Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda mentioned a lot of the claims had been associated to mistaken “hallucinations” from Google’s Bard giant language mannequin that the corporate labored to handle in 2023.
“Hallucinations are a well known subject for all LLMs, which we disclose and work laborious to minimise,” Castaneda mentioned. “However as everybody is aware of, in the event you’re inventive sufficient, you may immediate a chatbot to say one thing deceptive.”
Starbuck is finest recognized for opposing range, fairness and inclusion initiatives.
“Nobody — no matter political views — ought to ever expertise this,” he mentioned in an announcement in regards to the lawsuit. “Now could be the time for all of us to demand clear, unbiased AI that can not be weaponized to hurt folks.”
Starbuck made comparable allegations in opposition to Meta Platforms in a separate lawsuit in April. Starbuck and Meta settled their dispute in August, and Starbuck suggested the corporate on AI points beneath the settlement.
In line with Wednesday’s criticism, Starbuck discovered in December 2023 that Bard had falsely linked him with white nationalist Richard Spencer. The lawsuit mentioned that Bard cited fabricated sources and that Google failed to handle the statements after Starbuck contacted the corporate.
Starbuck’s lawsuit additionally mentioned that Google’s Gemma chatbot disseminated false sexual assault allegations in opposition to him in August based mostly on fictitious sources. Starbuck additionally alleged the chatbot mentioned that he dedicated spousal abuse, attended the January 6 Capitol riots and appeared within the Jeffrey Epstein information, amongst different issues.
Starbuck mentioned he has been approached by individuals who believed a few of the false accusations and that they may result in elevated threats on his life, noting the latest assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Starbuck requested the court docket for not less than $15m in damages.
Starbuck lawsuit comes amid rising issues that AI-generated content material has turn out to be simple to create and might facilitate the spread of misinformation. As Al Jazeera beforehand reported, Google’s VEO3 AI video maker allowed customers to make misleading movies of reports occasions.
Alphabet — Google’s guardian firm’s inventory is comparatively flat on the information of the lawsuit. As of two:30pm in New York (18:30 GMT), it’s up by 0.06 p.c.
