Asked about Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, Google's AI Overview told searchers that he had been convicted of a series of criminal offences — sexual assault, internet luring, assaulting a woman and attempting to assault a minor — and that he was listed on the national sex offender registry for life. Every one of those statements was false. The summary was built from online articles about a different man in Atlantic Canada who shares his last name. MacIsaac found out in December 2025, when the Sipekne'katik First Nation cancelled a concert he was due to play that month, citing the AI summary, after members of the public complained about what they had read.
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Expert: Justin Safayeni, Defamation lawyer, Stockwoods LLP (Toronto) Sipekne'katik First Nation publicly apologised to MacIsaac, saying the cancellation was based on incorrect information: "We deeply regret the harm this caused to your reputation and livelihood. Chief and council value your artistry, contribution to the cultural life of the Maritimes, and your commitment to reconciliation." MacIsaac said the false registry claim left him fearful of what could happen at a border and caused deep anxiety in later performances. He filed a civil claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking $1.5 million in damages from Google LLC, arguing that the company was liable for the "foreseeable republication" of the summary and for a defectively designed feature. "If a human spokesperson made these false allegations on Google's behalf, a significant award of punitive damages would be warranted," the claim stated. "Google should not have lesser liability because the defamatory statements were published by software that Google created and controls." Google Canada spokesperson Wendy Manton issued a statement saying the company's AI summaries change frequently to show the most "helpful" information: "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." Two points matter for anyone weighing how far to trust a generated summary. First, the error was not a stray typo: the system took reporting about a different man with the same surname and presented it as the record of a named living person. Second, the dispute ended without any ruling on liability — MacIsaac filed a notice of discontinuance on 29 July 2026. Safayeni told CBC News that a discontinuance is not a dismissal: the case can be resurrected later, and plaintiffs typically stop for cost, because a case looks unwinnable, or after a private settlement. Canadian courts still have not settled whether Google is liable for defamation published by its AI summaries. A Munich court has since held that Google's AI summaries are Google's own content, and in 2024 Canada's Air Canada was ordered to pay compensation after its chatbot gave a customer false information — after the airline argued the bot was a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/canadian-ashley-macisaac-fiddler-musician-singer-songwriter-sues-google-ai-sex-offender-ntwnfb
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