{"slug": "googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue", "title": "Google’s AI told lies about this man. He’s going to be allowed to sue.", "summary": "A federal court in Illinois ruled Monday that James Keene, a writer, TV producer and one-time FBI informer, may sue Google for defamation over false statements generated by Google's AI Overviews, which said he had killed three women and was serving a life sentence. Keene, whose marijuana-related prison term and time behind bars with a suspected serial killer inspired the Apple TV+ miniseries \"Black Bird,\" filed suit seeking at least $250 million after saying he repeatedly alerted Google that the AI Overviews could be defamatory and the statements remained accessible for at least two months. The U.S. District Court opinion allowed two of Google's motions to dismiss and denied two others, and Keene may file an amended complaint.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...\nA man who discovered false statements about himself by Google’s AI Overview will be allowed to sue for defamation, a federal court has ruled.\n\n[James Keene](https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/01/former-fbi-operative-james-keene-apple-tv-black-bird-googles-ai-chatbot-killer/) — a writer, TV producer and one-time FBI informer — last year claimed he found that queries about himself to Google Search were answered by artificial intelligence responses saying he had killed three women and was serving a life term in prison.\n\nKeene had indeed served prison time; his experience behind bars with a suspected serial killer was the basis of the Apple TV+ miniseries “Black Bird.” But his crime was marijuana-related, and he was released after 17 months.\n\nKeene “repeatedly alerted Google that the AI Overviews could be defamatory,” court documents say; the false statements were allegedly accessible for at least two months. Keene then [filed a lawsuit alleging defamation](https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/01/former-fbi-operative-james-keene-apple-tv-black-bird-googles-ai-chatbot-killer/) and seeking at least $250 million.\n\nGoogle sought to dismiss the claim. Among other things, it claimed that AI Overviews are not considered statements of fact and that, as Keene is a “limited public figure,” he would have to “plausibly plead” malice on Google’s part.\n\nThe opinion issued Monday by a U.S. District Court in Illinois allowed two of Google’s motions to dismiss and denied two others, stating that Keene may file an amended complaint.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/16/google-ai-james-keene-defamation/", "published_at": "2026-09-16 17:33:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-16 17:41:51.231188+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Google", "James Keene", "Google AI Overviews", "U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois", "Apple TV+", "Black Bird"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-ai-told-lies-about-this-man-hes-going-to-be-allowed-to-sue.jsonld"}}