Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, a three-time Juno winner, has filed a $1.5 million defamation claim against Google in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. He says an AI Overview wrongly claimed he was permanently on Canada's sex offender registry and had several sexual assault convictions, an error that cost him a booking late in 2025.
The claim argues that Google is responsible for the foreseeable spread of what its summaries say, and that the feature is defectively designed because the company knew it could produce false statements. MacIsaac asks for $500,000 each in general, aggravated and punitive damages, and says Google has never contacted him or apologised, although the Sipekne'katik First Nation apologised quickly. The filing calls the company's response cavalier and indifferent.
He told the Canadian Press he now feels afraid going on stage because of the label, and told The Guardian that he spoke out to clear his name and wants the issue settled in court. When he first went public in December, Google said its overviews keep improving, that it uses cases where its features misread web content or miss context to fix its systems, and that it may act under its policies.
Sources · 1