Google is fighting the defamation battle Meta caved on

Google has filed a motion to dismiss a defamation suit brought by anti-corporate diversity activist Robby Starbuck, who claimed Google’s AI falsely associated him with sexual assault allegations and a white nationalist.

Starbucks is seeking $15 million in damages from Google. But the company says in its filing that its claims simply represent its “misuse of developer tools to induce hallucinations.” Starbuck does not identify the prompts it used to generate the results in question, according to Google, or any real people who were misled by the alleged claims. Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Of course, Google could eventually choose a path similar to Meta’s in resolving complaints. But at least for now, he chooses to fight them in court.