Woke AI, meet anti-woke crusader.Somewhere in the Anti-Woke Matrix, AI bots are quaking in their proverbial NFTs after corporate crusader Robby Starbuck launched what could be the first lawsuit against an ‘artificial conversation entity’.His latest target? Meta Platforms — home of Facebook, Instagram, and now apparently, a rogue chatbot with a flair for fiction and a suspicious affection for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)..Starbuck is now adding ‘AI slayer’ to a résumé already thick with corporate scalps and anti-DEI crusades.On Tuesday, he announced a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against Meta, alleging its AI defamed him with a laundry list of fabrications that would make a tabloid editor blush. According to Starbuck, the bot falsely tied him to January 6th criminal activity, Holocaust denial, Nick Fuentes, and — perhaps most disturbing to parents everywhere — being “unfit” to raise his own children due to insufficient enthusiasm for DEI and gender ideology..When AI says, “Your kids should be raised by someone more inclusive,” it is now a real legal grievance. Meta may be learning the hard way that some AIs are smarter—and more legally bulletproof than others.The defamation storm began back in 2024 when Starbuck was busy rallying against woke policies at companies like Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniels. After a dealership took issue with his rhetoric, they shared screenshots of Meta’s AI-generated misinformation, unleashing a digital smear campaign that Starbuck claims has endangered his family and reputation.Meta executives, perhaps realizing that their AI’s DEI subroutines may have gone from “progressive” to “potentially libelous,” appear to be backpedalling with the kind of apologetic tone usually reserved for tech earnings calls after a data breach. .Harley CEO Zeitz rides into retirement amid anti-woke firestorm and culture war backlash.BOTTOMS UP: Jack Daniel’s the latest to dump DEI policies.Starbuck praises Pepsi for popping its DEI bubble as Coke goes flat.Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, called the situation “unacceptable,” while the company’s legal counsel assured Starbuck last year that the problem had been “fixed.”Apparently, it wasn’t. And only got worse.Starbuck alleges the company’s ‘FAIR’ — Facebook AI Research platform — is spinning elaborate digital fiction about him while Meta dithers in the algorithmic graveyard. Starbuck’s Twitter (“X”) post tagging none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself reads like the tech-world equivalent of a high-noon showdown: “Are you cool with your platform attacking people with entirely fictional stories?”.Observers said the lawsuit could have far-reaching implications, not just for AI governance but for the broader post-woke ecosystem taking shape under the Trump administration. Anti-DEI sentiment, once whispered in boardrooms and conservative think tanks, is now echoing from the halls of Congress to the corners of corporate America. And with Starbuck casting himself as a 21st-century David taking on a Silicon Valley Goliath, don’t expect this fight to end quietly.As Starbuck put it: “Today I’m the target. Tomorrow, it could be your favorite candidate — or you.”
