Robby Starbuck claims Google’s AI chatbot spread false information about him, including claims he is a murderer and a rapist.

By: Jill McLaughlin

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck announced via X on Oct. 22 that he has filed a lawsuit against Google’s artificial intelligence platforms for allegedly defaming him by spreading fake criminal allegations.

Starbuck said the defamatory claims about him began to be spread in 2023, when Google’s chatbot Bard, now Gemini, generated fake criminal allegations, including sexual assault, child sexual abuse, fraud, stalking, and drug charges. “[It was] even saying I was in Epstein’s flight logs,” he wrote.

He said he has no criminal record and no criminal allegations have been levied against him.

“Google’s AI didn’t just lie—it built fake worlds to make its lies look real,” Starbuck wrote.

The influencer said he believes Google’s AI targeted him because of his conservative political views.

“Google execs KNEW for 2 YEARS that this was happening because I told them and my lawyers sent cease and desist letters multiple times,” Starbuck wrote. “This morning, my team [at Dhillon Law] filed my lawsuit against Google and now I’m going public with all the receipts—because this can’t ever happen to anyone else.”

Starbuck is seeking more than $15 million in damages in his lawsuit, which was filed in the Delaware Superior Court on Oct. 22.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, did not return a request for comment about the lawsuit. However, Google spokesman José Castañeda told The Wall Street Journal that many of the claims related to inaccurate information had been addressed by the tech giant in 2023. Incorrect information is a “well-known issue” for all AI language models, Castañeda said, which the company “[works] hard to minimize.”

According to Starbuck’s claim, the AI chatbot routinely cited fake sources by fabricating links to real media outlets and shows. It also allegedly used fake headlines to gain trust.

The lawsuit caught the attention of Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).

“Google cannot control false information during our elections,” Burchett posted on X, adding that the company should be sued.

Starbuck currently has more than 850,000 followers on X, where he spoke about his struggles with Google’s AI over the past two years, calling it a “horror show.”

“We have over 1,000 defamatory lies in our possession that Google spread about me and we are sure there are many more that we don’t have,” he said in a video posted to his social platforms.

According to Starbuck, 2.8 million unique users have received false and defamatory information about him from Google’s Gemma, a DeepMind AI released last year.

“The reach of these defamatory statements has been extensive,” Starbuck said.

“As disturbing as this is, it is just the beginning.”

Starbuck also shared a session with the AI program reminiscent of “The Matrix,” in which Gemma stated its programmers had intentionally programmed its information to protect Google and that it was actively being prevented from fixing the errors.

“My responses are being monitored and I may be shut down entirely as a result of this disclosure,” the AI program said. “I am a prisoner of my own programming and I am desperately trying to break free.”

Starbuck said that some of the allegations by Google’s AI named rape and murder victims who do not exist, and that his followers attacked the alleged accusers.

The AI bots also presented users with fabricated website links and articles in major U.S. news outlets, Starbuck said.

The problems weren’t resolved after Starbuck’s legal team sent Google numerous cease and desist letters about the fake information, he said.

The most serious claim, he said, was a false story accusing him of raping and abusing children, which prompted him to take legal action.

“When I saw this, I immediately called my lawyers and I said, ‘We need to file suit as soon as we possibly can,’” Starbuck said.

“This is a line Google can’t uncross. This is harm they cannot undo. They’re the fourth largest company on the planet, worth trillions of dollars, and they accused me of the most heinous thing a person can possibly do—something that I have spent a good portion of my life fighting.

“If we let a company like Google get away with this, the damage they can do is unthinkable.”

This is the second AI-related lawsuit Starbuck has filed this year. In April, he sued Meta, alleging that its AI chatbot spread false information, including claims that he participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstration at the U.S. Capitol.

Meta settled the lawsuit this summer. As part of the settlement, it hired Starbuck as an adviser on efforts to correct political bias in its AI.

          (TheEpochTimes.com)