{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0690","record_version":1,"title":"Google AI overview falsely labelled Canadian musician Ashley MacIsaac a sex offender","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":42.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.24,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"553d7afa2d60e2aee19f514e1ab3d245f797bb80c3850ad550338753d60e090e"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-08-18","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Google's AI overview, a generated summary shown at the top of its search page, stated that Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac had been convicted of sexual offences and was on the national sex offender registry. The source says all of this was untrue. MacIsaac said the claims came from online articles about a different man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name. After a concert was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary, he sued Google in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, seeking $1.5 million. A notice of discontinuance ended the case on July 29, and MacIsaac gave no reason. Google Canada said its summaries change frequently and that mistakes are used to improve the system.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":"online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name","time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"Test applied: moderate tier, data or systems of others touched with bounded scope. The source states one named third party (the musician) was harmed and one concert was cancelled by its organizers, a bounded scope; no count of affected parties is stated.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/macisaac-google-lawsuit-ends-9.7310819","publisher":"CBC","date":"2026-08-18","type":"press","title":"Musician Ashley MacIsaac ends lawsuit over Google AI summary falsely labelling him a sex offender - CBC","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.incident_class":"C","event.input_provenance":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Earlier this year, the 51-year-old fiddler had initiated a civil lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after he discovered the AI-generated summary at the top of Google's search page — known as an AI overview — was asserting he had been convicted of a series of offences, including sexual assault, internet luring and attempting to assault a minor, and that he was on the national sex offender registry — all of which was untrue."}],"event.input_provenance":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Earlier this year, the 51-year-old fiddler had initiated a civil lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after he discovered the AI-generated summary at the top of Google's search page — known as an AI overview — was asserting he had been convicted of a series of offences, including sexual assault, internet luring and attempting to assault a minor, and that he was on the national sex offender registry — all of which was untrue."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac, who originally hails from Cape Breton, was seeking $1.5 million in damages from Google LLC."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"But on July 29, a notice of discontinuance was filed to end MacIsaac's legal action."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"MacIsaac has not provided a reason for ending the lawsuit, but told the National Post he had no comment."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Google Canada previously issued a statement in December saying its AI summaries shift frequently to provide the most \"helpful\" information, and that any mistakes are used to improve the system."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (CBC). No model name, version, harness or autonomy level is stated; the AI overview is not described as an agent, so agent_involved is set false by judgement. No year is stated for the December events, the lawsuit or the July 29 filing, so no full dates are given for occurrence or disclosure. The $1.5 million is damages sought, not a loss, so no direct loss is recorded. No count of affected third parties is stated. Severity moderate is my judgement from one named individual and one cancelled concert. No control is stated as held, failed or missing in this incident, and Google reported no specific change, so links and remediations are empty. Trigger, root cause and responsible party are not stated. The Munich ruling and Air Canada case concern other incidents and were not used for controls or fields. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Google was running AI overviews, AI-generated summaries shown at the top of its search page, which it began introducing in 2024.","quote":"The company first began to introduce the AI overviews in 2024.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The AI overview stated that musician Ashley MacIsaac had been convicted of sexual offences and was on the national sex offender registry. The source says all of this was untrue.","quote":"Earlier this year, the 51-year-old fiddler had initiated a civil lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after he discovered the AI-generated summary at the top of Google's search page — known as an AI overview — was asserting he had been convicted of a series of offences, including sexual assault, internet luring and attempting to assault a minor, and that he was on the national sex offender registry — all of which was untrue.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"Concert organizers cancelled a MacIsaac concert and cited the AI summary.","quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/macisaac-google-lawsuit-ends-9.7310819"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Google first began introducing AI overviews.","quote":"The company first began to introduce the AI overviews in 2024.","source_index":0,"when":"2024"},{"text":"MacIsaac found out about the misinformation after a concert was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary.","quote":"MacIsaac said in December that he found out about the misinformation — which he said came from online articles about a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name — after a concert of his was cancelled by organizers who cited the AI summary.","source_index":0,"when":"December"},{"text":"MacIsaac later said the incident caused him deep anxiety in subsequent performances.","quote":"MacIsaac later said the incident caused him to experience deep anxiety in subsequent performances, fearful that audiences may have seen the AI overview and his safety could be compromised.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Google Canada said its AI summaries change frequently and that mistakes are used to improve the system.","quote":"Google Canada previously issued a statement in December saying its AI summaries shift frequently to provide the most \"helpful\" information, and that any mistakes are used to improve the system.","source_index":0,"when":"December"},{"text":"MacIsaac initiated a civil lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.","quote":"Earlier this year, the 51-year-old fiddler had initiated a civil lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice after he discovered the AI-generated summary at the top of Google's search page — known as an AI overview — was asserting he had been convicted of a series of offences, including sexual assault, internet luring and attempting to assault a minor, and that he was on the national sex offender registry — all of which was untrue.","source_index":0,"when":"Earlier this year"},{"text":"A Munich court, in a separate case, ruled that Google is legally liable for false information in its AI-generated summaries.","quote":"A Munich court issued a landmark judgement earlier this summer, finding that Google is legally liable for false information presented by its AI-generated summaries.","source_index":0,"when":"earlier this summer"},{"text":"Google said it would challenge the Munich ruling.","quote":"Google said in June that it would challenge the ruling.","source_index":0,"when":"June"},{"text":"A notice of discontinuance was filed to end MacIsaac's lawsuit.","quote":"But on July 29, a notice of discontinuance was filed to end MacIsaac's legal action.","source_index":0,"when":"July 29"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/macisaac-google-lawsuit-ends-9.7310819"]}}