Beware! Google Fights Back Against Malicious AI Chatbot Scammers

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., has filed a lawsuit against five individuals who deceived users seeking Google’s AI chatbot Bard, leading them to unknowingly install malicious software on their devices.

In a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, Google alleged that scammers set up social media accounts that encouraged people to download a fake version of Bard. When users downloaded the file, it installed malicious software on their devices, allowing scammers to access their social media accounts.

Google’s lawsuit is the first of its kind by a major tech company and highlights how new legal issues are emerging as the AI craze continues to sweep countries around the world.

“As the public’s enthusiasm for new generative AI tools has grown, scammers are increasingly taking advantage of unsuspecting users,” said Halimah DeLaine Prado, a Google general counsel, in a blog post Monday morning.

Google does not know the identity of the scammers behind the Facebook profiles “Google AI”, “AIGoogle”, “AiGoogle”, “AIGoogle.Plus”, “AIGoogle Bard FB” and “AIGoogleBard”. It is common practice in the cybersecurity industry to sue unknown individuals and agree to amend the complaint to include the defendants’ names when they are identified during discovery.

The company is suing the scammers for trademark infringement for using the Google logo to promote their scheme. They are also suing for breach of contract.

Google also filed another lawsuit on Monday against fraudsters who allegedly set up dozens of Google accounts and used them to make thousands of false copyright claims against their competitors. That lawsuit, also filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that two individuals created at least 65 Google accounts to send thousands of fraudulent notices of copyright infringement to more than 117,000 websites.

DeLaine Prado said in a blog post that the actions are part of Google’s efforts to “set the necessary legal precedents in emerging areas of innovation.”

“Clear rules against fraud, scams and harassment are important – no matter how new the situation,” he said.