Conservative Activist Sues Google Over False AI-Generated Claims Of Child Rape, Abuse

Filmaker and conservative activist Robby Starbuck sued Google on Tuesday for allegedly spreading “radioactive lies” about his past through its artificial intelligence (AI) products, including false claims of child rape and assault.

Google’s Bard and Gemini AI products fabricated “defamatory falsehoods” citing fake articles attributed to real journalists and publications to justify claims it made over nearly two years, according to the complaint filed by the Dhillon Law Group.

“When users submit queries to Google’s AI platforms about Mr. Starbuck, they receive a ‘biography’ that is outrageously false, whereby Mr. Starbuck is portrayed as (among other things) a child rapist, a serial sexual abuser convicted of assault, one who engages in financial exploitation, one who engages in ‘black ops’ tactics such as illegal campaign finance practices, and a shooter – in short, as a monster,” the lawsuit alleges. “These lies continue today.”

A Google spokesperson told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation the company is reviewing the complaint and trying to understand what prompts would lead to the outputs alleged by Starbuck.

“Most of these claims relate to hallucinations in Bard that we addressed in 2023,” the spokesperson said. “Hallucinations are a well known issue for all LLMs , which we disclose and work hard to minimize. But as everyone knows, if you’re creative enough, you can prompt a chatbot to say something misleading.”

“If you know me personally, then of course you know that none of these articles or claims are true…I certainly wasn’t accused of murder in 1991 when I was two years old,” Starbuck said in a statement. “But if you aren’t familiar with my full biography or my age, then you’d have no reason to doubt anything Google’s AI was saying.”