According to Cointelegraph, Google LLC has filed a lawsuit against three anonymous scammers for creating fake advertisements for updates to Google's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Bard, which, when downloaded, installs malware. The lawsuit, filed on November 13, accuses the scammers of using Google's trademarks related to its AI products, such as 'Google, Google AI, and Bard,' to deceive victims into downloading malware onto their computers. The scammers allegedly created deceptive social media pages and content with Google's trademarks, making them appear like official Google products and offering free downloads of Bard and other AI products.
Unsuspecting users unknowingly download the malware by following the links, which are designed to access and exploit their social media login credentials, primarily targeting businesses and advertisers. Google is seeking damages, attorneys' fees, permanent injunctive relief for injuries caused by the defendants, all profits obtained by the scammers, a comprehensive restraining order, and any other relief the court deems 'just and equitable.'
The lawsuit comes as AI services, including chatbot services, have experienced a significant increase in users worldwide. Google's Bard bot receives 49.7 million unique visitors each month, while OpenAI's popular AI chatbot service, ChatGPT, has over 100 million monthly users and nearly 1.5 billion monthly visitors to its website. This surge in popularity and accessibility of AI services has also led to numerous lawsuits against the companies developing the technology. Over the past year, OpenAI, Google, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, have all been involved in legal battles.
