Google has filed a lawsuit against unidentified scammers who created fraudulent advertisements related to updates for Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Bard.
The lawsuit, filed on November 13 in the Northern District of California, accuses the scammers of misleading users, leading them to download a malicious version of Bard, resulting in malware installation on their devices.
The defendants, referred to as “DOES 1-3,” remain anonymous. Google alleges that the scammers exploited its trademarks, including “Google,” “Google AI,” and “Bard,” to attract unsuspecting victims into downloading malware onto their computers.
Additionally, the “criminals “created fake social media pages and trademarked content that mimicked Google products, offering free versions of Bard and other AI products for download.
Users, unaware of the malicious intent, ended up downloading the malware through the provided links. The malware, according to Google, is designed to access and exploit users’ social media login credentials, with a primary focus on businesses and advertisers.
Google is seeking various legal remedies, including damages, attorneys’ fees, permanent injunctive relief, all profits obtained by the scammers, a comprehensive restraining order, and any other equitable relief deemed necessary by the court.
This legal action comes at a time when AI services, particularly chatbots, have witnessed a significant surge in global users.
Google’s Bard bot alone attracts 49.7 million unique visitors each month, reflecting the growing popularity and accessibility of AI technologies. ChatGPT by OpenAI has over 180 million users with 100 million of them being weekly visitors.
Also, there have been reactions from tech founders and CEOs to the need to manage the development and deployment of AI tools around the world. This has led to meetings in the White House.
Additionally, the recently concluded AI Summit held in the UK attracted prominent figures such as Elon Musk.
The lawsuit underscores the challenges posed by scammers taking advantage of the rising interest in AI tools. Google’s General Counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, who stated in a blog post that scammers are increasingly exploiting unsuspecting users as excitement around new generative AI tools intensifies.
