Ashley MacIsaac (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Tibet House) Canadian fiddle star Ashley MacIsaac has brought a lawsuit against Google for allegedly falsely identifying him as a “convicted sex offender” in an AI-generated Overview search summary.
The civil claim by the Juno-winning musician filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, seeks at least $1.5 million in damages and claims Google is liable for the “foreseeable republication” of Overview statements that resulted in a Dec. 19, 2025 concert date being cancelled by a promoter over the online summary.
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“These defamatory statements asserted that MacIsaac was a convicted sex offender and had engaged in serious criminal misconduct as well as violence misconduct that led to a civil suit,” the lawsuit claims. “Google’s cavalier and indifferent response to its publication of utterly false statements claiming that MacIsaac committed serious sexual offenses, including offenses involving children, justifies the award of aggravated and/or punitive damages,” the civil suit adds.
“If a human spokesperson made these false allegations on Google’s behalf, a significant award of punitive damages would be warranted. Google should not have lesser liability because the defamatory statements were published by software that Google created and controls,” the claim adds.
After press coverage of the false identification of MacIsaac in the Google Overview summary, the famed Canadian fiddler spoke to the media about the wrongful identification, and in the lawsuit indicates he did not hear from the search engine giant directly or receive an apology.
MacIsaac in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter added: “When I first discovered the false statements Google was publishing about me, I felt I needed to speak out to the media to clear my name and bring attention to the issue. Now that a statement of claim has been served and filed, I have no further comments about this initial stage of the lawsuit. I believe this is a serious issue, that needs to be resolved in the courts. I do not want to do or say anything that may hinder the lawsuit’s progress, or distract attention from this issue. I ask that any future requests for comment be directed to my lawyer.”
A Google spokesperson in December 2025 in the wake of MacIsaac’s approach to the media in a statement said the search results tying the musician to the criminal offenses no longer appeared in the AI Overview, while adding: “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.”
No one at Google or its legal representatives at legal firm Torys were available on Monday for additional comment.
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