Musician wrongly branded a sex offender by Google AI summary wants to sue over canceled concerts

An award-winning musician falsely labeled as a sex offender by an AI-generated Google summary said he is considering suing the search giant after concerts were canceled in the wake of the accusation.

Ashley MacIsaac, a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, was set to play at a concert in Nova Scotia when he learned that the organizers had cancelled the show, the Canadian Press reported.

The Google AI Overview, which has since been corrected by the tech behemoth, falsely said the Juno Award-winning musician, 50, had been convicted of multiple sex offenses, including sexual assault, internet luring, assaulting a woman and attempting to assault a minor, MacIsaac said.

It also wrongly said that the virtuoso fiddle player was listed on Canada’s national sex offender registry.

“I could have been at a border and put in jail. So something has to be figured out as far as what the AI companies are responsible for, and what they can prevent” MacIsaac told the Canadian Press.

His planned Dec. 19 concert was cancelled by a First Nation north of Halifax after seeing the AI-generated summary.

The inaccurate claims were cobbled together from online articles regarding a man in Canada with the same last name, he said.

“You are being put into a less secure situation because of a media company — that’s what defamation is,” MacIsaac said.

“If a lawyer wants to take this on [for free], I would stand up because I’m not the first and I’m sure I won’t be the last,” he added.

MacIsaac, who burst onto the Canadian folk music scene as a teenager in the 1990s, blending traditional Celtic music with rock, has speculated over whether the false AI summary may have prompted an earlier concert cancellation in Mexico last year.

The singer is no stranger to controversy, having previously bared his genitals to the studio audience during an appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” in 1997.

Google did not respond immediately to requests for comment, but a spokesperson for Google Canada earlier said that the company’s AI overviews 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,” spokesperson Wendy Manton told the Canadian Press.

The Sipekne’katik First Nation, which cancelled MacIsaac’s concert, issued a public apology to the singer.

“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,” the statement directed at MacIsaac read.

MacIsaac said he hopes to reschedule the cancelled concert, but wants to wait until things settle down before agreeing a date.

“I don’t feel comfortable about going there right now because I don’t think the proper information can be disseminated within a week. It’s seen so many shares. I didn’t want to bring any attention negatively to the community,” he said.