Google filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit from anti-corporate diversity activist Robby Starbuck in a California federal court. Starbuck alleges Google’s AI falsely associated him with sexual assault allegations and a white nationalist. The company argues his claims result from misuse of its tools.
Robby Starbuck, known for his activism against corporate diversity initiatives, initiated the lawsuit after testing Google’s AI. He claims the system generated outputs linking him to unfounded sexual assault accusations and white nationalist affiliations. These statements appeared in responses from Google’s AI model when queried through developer interfaces.
This case follows Starbuck’s prior action against Meta. He sued the company after its AI chatbot falsely stated he participated in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. Unlike Google, Meta resolved the dispute through settlement in August 2025. The agreement included hiring Starbuck as an advisor focused on addressing “ideological and political bias” in its AI chatbot, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that no US court has awarded damages in a defamation case involving an AI chatbot. This marks the current landscape for such legal claims, with Starbuck’s suits testing judicial boundaries on AI-generated content.
Starbuck demands $15 million in damages from Google. The company counters in its court filing that the alleged defamatory outputs stem from Starbuck’s “misuse of developer tools to induce hallucinations.” Google specifies that Starbuck fails to detail the exact prompts used to produce the problematic responses. The filing also notes he does not identify any specific individual or group misled by the AI’s outputs.
Starbuck did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Google’s motion. The company plans to contest the lawsuit in court proceedings, distinguishing its approach from Meta’s settlement strategy.
