HALIFAX \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are being put into a less secure situation because of a media company \u2014 that\u2019s what defamation is,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a lawyer wants to take this on (for free) \u2026 I would stand up because I\u2019m not the first and I\u2019m sure I won\u2019t be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could have been at a border and put in jail,\u201d he said. \u201cSo something has to be figured out as far as what the AI companies are responsible for \u2026 and what they can prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Google Canada spokesperson Wendy Manton issued a statement saying Google\u2019s \u201cAI overviews\u201d are frequently changing to show what she described as the most \u201chelpful\u201d information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen issues arise \u2014 like if our features misinterpret web content or miss some context \u2014 we use those examples to improve our systems, and may take action under our policies.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Sipekne\u2019katik First Nation issued a public apology to MacIsaac, saying in an online post that the cancellation was based on incorrect information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deeply regret the harm this caused to your reputation and livelihood,\u201d the message says. \u201cChief and council value your artistry, contribution to the cultural life of the Maritimes, and your commitment to reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the cancelled concert, MacIsaac says he\u2019s looking forward to rescheduling the event. But he said he wanted things to settle down before setting a date.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel comfortable about going there right now because I don\u2019t think the proper information can be disseminated within a week. It\u2019s seen so many shares,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to bring any attention negatively to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for a possible lawsuit, MacIsaac said he had already talked to a lawyer, and he speculated about how the misinformation may have prompted the cancellation of a concert scheduled for earlier this year in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Still, he said he doesn\u2019t have the money to pay for a lawsuit that could take years to settle.<\/p>\n
MacIsaac burst onto the music seen in the 1990s as a wildly talented teenager who blended traditional Celtic music with a high-energy, rocking style that eventually found its way into the hip-hop scene.<\/p>\n
To be sure, he is no stranger to controversy.<\/p>\n
During a 1999 concert in Halifax, he launched into a profanity-laced rant that ended the show and resulted in widespread cancellations of his gigs. And in early 1997, he attracted attention for discussing his sexual proclivities with a reporter and flashing his private parts during an appearance on a late-night U.S. talk show.<\/p>\n
But he hasn\u2019t had any real run-ins with the law, aside from receiving an absolute discharge and no fine in 2001 for possessing marijuana in Saskatchewan. When Judge Linton Smith granted the discharge, he told MacIsaac\u2019s lawyer, \u201cThe only condition I\u2019d like to attach is if you could get my wife an autograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
When cannabis was legalized in Canada in October 2018, MacIsaac was the first in line at a Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. branch in Cape Breton, which was about to become the only legal place to buy recreational cannabis on the island.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need to be a criminal anymore, and that\u2019s a great feeling,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cAnd my new dealer is the prime minister!\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2025.<\/p>\n
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HALIFAX \u2014 Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac says he may have been defamed by Google after it recently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-375218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}