Conservative activist Robby Starbuck filed a defamation lawsuit against Google alleging its artificial-intelligence tools falsely connected Starbuck to sexual-assault claims and to a white nationalist.
Starbuck said he became aware of the inaccuracies in 2023 while using Bard, an early Google AI tool. Bard said that Starbuck had ties to Richard Spencer, a once-prominent white nationalist, according to the lawsuit. At the time, Starbuck took to social-media platform X and tagged Google and its CEO in a post about the details:
“Imagine a future where Bard is used to decide whether you get a loan, if you’re approved for adoption,” he asked his hundreds of thousands of followers at the time. The lawsuit says newer Google AI tools produced other falsehoods about him earlier this year, including claims that Starbuck had been accused of sexual assault.
