Canadian Musician Loses Gig After Google AI Falsely Labels Him a Sex Offender

Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac had a show cancelled after Google produced an AI-generated summary that falsely identified him as a sex offender.

Juno Award-winning musician Ashley MacIsaac was floored to learn that Google produced an AI-generated summary falsely identifying him as a sex offender. The Canadian fiddler said he learned of the potential defamation last week after a venue north of Halifax confronted him with the summary after cancelling a planned concert last month.

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

According to MacIsaac, the Google summary falsely claimed he had been convicted of sexual assault of a woman, the attempted assault of a minor, and internet luring. Google’s summary also accused him of being listed on the national sex offender registry, which is also false.

“I could have been at a border and put in jail,” the 50-year-old fiddler added. “So something has to be figured out as far as what the AI companies are responsible for, […] and what they can prevent.”

MacIsaac said he learned the inaccurate claims were pulled from online articles regarding another man in Canada with the same last name. The Sipekne’katik First Nation, which cancelled his gig and alerted him to the matter in the first place, issued a public apology to MacIsaac, adding that the cancellation was based on incorrect information.

Meanwhile, Google Canada spokesperson Wendy Manton released a statement saying that Google’s “AI overviews” are frequently changing to show what she called 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,” said Manton.

MacIsaac also speculated that the misinformation may have prompted another cancellation scheduled earlier this year in Mexico. He added that he doesn’t have the money to pursue legal action, but that he’s already received queries from law firms across the country interested in taking the case pro bono.