N.S. fiddler Ashley MacIssac says AI content may have defamed him
Global News
Nova Scotia fiddler Ashley MacIsaac said the summary falsely asserted he had been convicted of a series of offences, including sexual assault and internet luring.
Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac says he may have been defamed by Google after it recently produced an AI-generated summary falsely identifying him as a sex offender.
The Juno Award-winning musician said Tuesday he learned of the online misinformation last week after a First Nation north of Halifax had confronted him with the summary and had cancelled one of his concerts planned for Dec. 19.
“You are being put into a less secure situation because of a media company — that’s what defamation is,” MacIsaac said in a telephone interview, adding he was worried about what might have happened had the erroneous content surfaced while he was trying to cross an international border.
“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.”
MacIsaac said the summary falsely asserted he had been convicted of a series of offences including sexual assault, internet luring, assaulting a woman and attempting to assault a minor. As well, he said the Google entry accused him of being listed on the national sex offender registry, which is also untrue.
“I could have been at a border and put in jail,” he said. “So something has to be figured out as far as what the AI companies are responsible for … and what they can prevent.”
The 50-year-old virtuoso fiddler said he later learned the inaccurate claims were taken from online articles regarding a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name.
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