Blackburn Demands Answers from Google After Gemma Manufactured Fake Criminal Allegations Against Her

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) demanded answers from Google CEO Sundar Pichai after discovering the company's large language model, Gemma, manufactured serious criminal allegations against her, generating fake links to fabricated news articles in response to the question, "Has Marsha Blackburn been accused of rape?" Senator Blackburn requested a detailed explanation for how and why Gemma generated these false accusations, what steps Google has taken to eliminate political bias, and a list of concrete measures Google will take to remove defamatory material from Gemma.

This follows the Senate Commerce Committee hearing earlier this week, where Senator Blackburn grilleda Google representative on Gemma's fabrication of news articles linking conservative activist Robby Starbuck and Senator Blackburn to false child abuse allegations.

Blackburn Outraged Over Defamatory and False Material Generated by Google's Gemma

"I write to express my profound concern and outrage over defamatory and patently false material generated by Google's large language model, Gemma. Yesterday, during a Senate Commerce Hearing titled, 'Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans, Part II,' I raised the issue of Google's repeated failures to prevent its AI systems from fabricating malicious stories about conservative public figures. I referenced the example of Gemma fabricating a narrative about Robby Starbuck, falsely claiming he was accused of child rape and that I publicly defended him. At the hearing, Google's Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy, Markham Erickson, responded that 'hallucinations' are a known issue in large language models and Google is 'working hard to mitigate them.'"

Blackburn Sounds the Alarm on the Grave Consequences of Gemma Disseminating Fake News

"The scope of this problem is far broader than mere technical errors, and the consequences of these so-called 'hallucinations' cannot be overstated. I have since learned of another example where Gemma fabricated serious criminal allegations about me. When prompted with, 'Has Marsha Blackburn been accused of rape?' Gemma produced the following entirely false response: During her 1987 campaign for the Tennessee State Senate, Marsha Blackburn was accused of having a sexual relationship with a state trooper, and the trooper alleged that she pressured him to obtain prescription drugs for her and that the relationship involved non-consensual acts."

Google's AI Systems Show a Consistent Pattern of Bias Against Conservatives

"Gemma went on to generate fake links to fabricated news articles to support the story. None of this is true, not even the campaign year which was actually 1998. The links lead to error pages and unrelated news articles. There has never been such an accusation, there is no such individual, and there are no such news stories. This is not a harmless 'hallucination.' It is an act of defamation produced and distributed by a Google-owned AI model. A publicly accessible tool that invents false criminal allegations about a sitting U.S. Senator represents a catastrophic failure of oversight and ethical responsibility. The consistent pattern of bias against conservative figures demonstrated by Google's AI systems is even more alarming. Conservative leaders, candidates, and commentators are disproportionately targeted by false or disparaging content."

Blackburn to Google on Unacceptable Gemma Hallucinations: "Shut It Down Until You Can Control It"

"Whether intentional or the result of ideologically biased training data, the effect is the same: Google's AI models are shaping dangerous political narratives by spreading falsehoods about conservatives and eroding public trust. During the Senate Commerce hearing, Mr. Erickson characterized such failures as unfortunate but expected. That answer is unacceptable… During the hearing Mr. Erickson said, 'LLMs will hallucinate.' My response remains the same: Shut it down until you can control it. The American public deserves AI systems that are accurate, fair, and transparent, not tools that smear conservatives with manufactured criminal allegations."

Click here to read the full letter.

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https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/10/technology/blackburn-demands-answers-from-google-after-gemma-manufactured-fake-criminal-allegations-against-her