Ashley MacIsaac ends defamation lawsuit over Google AI claim he was a sex offender

Maritime musician Ashley MacIsaac has ended his defamation lawsuit against Google over an AI overview that falsely labelled him a sex offender.

The Cape Breton-born fiddler launched his $1.5-million claim earlier this year in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, alleging that he lost a gig at a Nova Scotia First Nation after community members came across Google AI Overview descriptions falsely suggesting that MacIsaac had been sentenced for “sexual assault and internet luring” and placed on a sex offender registry for 20 years, among other erroneous statements.

However, MacIsaac’s lawyer filed a notice of discontinuance with the court on July 29 that ends his legal action. Reached by phone, MacIsaac declined to elaborate on the reason for the discontinuance.

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“I have no comment. I’ll have to leave it at that,” he said. “I appreciate the opportunity to speak to media when I feel it’s necessary, but today I don’t.”

Toronto lawyer Maanit Zemel is one of many defamation lawyers mourning the missed opportunity for a full trial in the case.

“This generally means they’ve come to some kind of agreement and they can’t provide the settlement details because they’re privileged,” she explains.

MacIsaac’s now-withdrawn claim alleged that Google was liable for the AI Overview’s statements, which appeared to confuse him for a Newfoundland man with a similar name who was convicted of sexual assault, as well as the “foreseeable republication” that resulted in the concert cancellation.

“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 claim continued, alleging that the tech giant had not taken reasonable steps to prevent harm to individuals when its AI system returns false information.

Google’s Canadian lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, but in press coverage at the time of the concert cancellation, a company spokesperson pointed out that the search results linking MacIsaac to the criminal offences no longer appeared in the AI Overview, adding that: “When issues arise — like if our features misinterpret web content or miss some context — we use those examples to improve our systems, and may take action under our policies.”