Conservative activist Robby Starbuck has filed a defamation lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company’s AI tools falsely linked him to sexual assault claims and labeled him a white nationalist.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Robby Starbuck, prominent for his work in dismantling corporate America’s DEI machine, has filed a defamation lawsuit against tech giant Google. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Superior Court on Wednesday, seeks more than $15 million in damages for the false information produced by Google’s AI tools, which Starbuck claims has damaged his reputation.
According to the lawsuit, Starbuck first became aware of inaccuracies in Google’s AI-generated content in 2023 while using Bard, an early Google AI tool. Bard stated that Starbuck had ties to Richard Spencer, a once-prominent white nationalist. Starbuck immediately took to social media platform X to call out Google and CEO Sundar Pichai, asking his hundreds of thousands of followers to “imagine a future where Bard is used to decide whether you get a loan, if you’re approved for adoption.”
The lawsuit further alleges that more recent Google AI tools produced additional falsehoods about Starbuck earlier this year, including claims that he had been accused of sexual assault. Google spokesman José Castañeda acknowledged that inaccurate information is a “well-known issue for all LLMs (large language models),” which the company discloses and works hard to minimize. He added, “If you’re creative enough, you can prompt a chatbot to say something misleading.”
This is not the first time Starbuck has taken legal action against a tech company over AI-related defamation. In April, he sued Meta Platforms, alleging that its AI tool falsely asserted he participated in the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Breitbart News reported in August that Starbuck had settled his lawsuit with Mark Zuckerberg’s company:
Robby Starbuck, prominent for his work in dismantling corporate America’s DEI machine, and tech giant Meta have reached a settlement in the lawsuit filed by Starbuck, which alleged that Meta’s AI chatbot defamed him. The resolution of this case not only puts an end to the legal dispute but also marks the beginning of a collaborative effort between Starbuck and Meta to address the crucial issue of political bias in AI models.
As part of the settlement, Starbuck will take on a consulting role at Meta with a primary focus of enhancing the company’s existing initiatives aimed at combating political bias in its AI models and minimizing the occurrence of “hallucinations” – instances where AI chatbot generate fabricated information.
Starbuck has gained attention for his successful efforts to pressure large companies to abandon their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and retreat from environmental goals and other corporate sustainability policies. His lawsuits against Google and Meta highlight the growing legal questions surrounding the accountability of AI tools for the information they produce.
So far, no U.S. court has awarded damages to someone defamed by an AI chatbot. In May, a Georgia court ruled in favor of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in an AI-related defamation case brought by conservative talk radio host Mark Walters. However, Clare Norins, director of the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic, believes that more cases moving through the courts present new legal questions about how AI tools will be held accountable for the information they generate.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
