Google has initiated legal action against three fraudsters accused of fabricating deceptive advertisements for updates to Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Bard, among other items, which, upon download, install malicious software.
The legal complaint, submitted on November 13, identifies the defendants as ‘DOES 1-3,’ maintaining their anonymity. Google alleges that the scammers exploited its trademarks related to AI products, including Google, Google AI, and Bard, to entice unsuspecting individuals into downloading malware onto their computers.
The lawsuit cites instances of misleading social media pages and trademarked content that create the appearance of a Google product, enticing users to download free versions of Bard and other AI products. Google asserts that users unwittingly install the malware by following the provided links, which are crafted to obtain and exploit users’ social media login credentials, primarily targeting businesses and advertisers. The technology giant has requested the court for damages, attorneys’ fees, permanent injunctive relief against the defendant’s actions, all profits gained by the scammers, a comprehensive restraining order, and any other measures the court deems just and equitable.
The legal action comes at a time when AI services, including chatbot services, are experiencing a notable surge in global users. OpenAI’s widely-used AI chatbot service, ChatGPT, boasts over 100 million monthly users, with its website receiving nearly 1.5 billion monthly visitors.
The increased popularity and accessibility of AI services have led to several legal challenges against companies developing this technology. In the past year, OpenAI, Google, and Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) have all been entangled in legal disputes.
In a class-action lawsuit filed in July, Google faced allegations from eight individuals representing millions of class members, including internet users and copyright holders. The plaintiffs claimed that Google had infringed upon their privacy and property rights by updating its privacy policy to include data scraping capabilities for AI training purposes.
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