Canadian fiddler sues Google after AI Overview claimed he was a sex offender

Post by bregma » Fri, May 08, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC

1attice wrote: post #6

This is especially troubling from a sociological perspective, as it points to how AIs turn malice into false history. Ashley MacIsaac made waves in the nineties for being openly gay, and he paid his dues for years. I vividly recall being around a barroom table in the late nineties, listening to this specific slander. We knew it was slander though, because there was no evidence. We had no machine yet to confabulate it…

Post by chrisjj » Fri, May 08, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

otikik wrote: post #20

chrisjj wrote: post #2

> Google should not have lesser liability because the defamatory statements were published by software that Google created and controls. Therein lies the rub. Google does not control what its parrot spouts. No-one does.

Well "to control" means two different things: "having the ability to modify or interrupt something" and "having the willingness to exert that ability". OP says Google has the first. You are saying Google doesn't have the second. Both of you are right in that sense. You are wrong in the sense that the second doesn't matter much here. If I remove my hands from the wheel of my car, while it would be technically true tha…

Post by 1attice » Fri, May 08, 2026, 8:33 PM UTC

bregma wrote: post #21

1attice wrote: post #6

This is especially troubling from a sociological perspective, as it points to how AIs turn malice into false history. Ashley MacIsaac made waves in the nineties for being openly gay, and he paid his dues for years. I vividly recall being around a barroom table in the late nineties, listening to this specific slander. We knew it was slander though, because there was no evidence. We had no machine yet to confabulate it…

It wasn't just because he was in the 10%. He was proudly a member of a small minority within a minority when it came to certain predilections. But those predilections did not include minors. One might be not able to say he has gone without sin, but not that sin.

Post by _spduchamp » Sat, May 09, 2026, 2:48 PM UTC