Judge dismisses class action alleging Google AI records Verizon users’ calls

Update: 

• A federal judge in California threw out a class action lawsuit filed against Google over claims it unlawfully eavesdropped on customer service calls made by Verizon users. 
• U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin granted Google’s motion to dismiss with leave to amend. 
• Judge Lin ruled claims brought against Google under the California Invasion of Privacy Act were barred by an exemption within the law for telephone companies and their agents—in this case, Google.  
• The consumer behind the complaint argued Google violated CIPA by using its Google Cloud Contact Center AI to listen to and transcribe Verizon users’ conversations during customer service calls. 
• In its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit, Google argued the complaint failed to state a claim on which relief can be granted. 

Google customer service class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Misael Ambriz filed a class action lawsuit against Google LLC. 
• Why: Ambriz claims Google unlawfully records, accesses, reads and learns customer service conversations made by Verizon customers through Google’s Google Cloud Contact Center AI. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court. 

(Nov. 1, 2023)

Google unlawfully records, accesses, reads, and learns the contents of conservations between consumers and Verizon customer service representatives using the Google Cloud Contact Center AI (GCCCAI), a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Misael Ambriz claims Google failed to get consent prior to allegedly recording customer service calls to Verizon through GCCCAI. 

Ambriz argues Google is violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), which prohibits any person or entity from intentionally wiretapping telephone conversations without first getting the consent of all parties involved in it. 

“Google, through GCCCAI, is actively analyzing the real-time contents of conversations between companies like Verizon and their customers,” the Google class action states. 

Ambriz wants to represent a nationwide class and California subclass of individuals who had their conversations with Verizon read and learned by Google using GCCCAI. 

Google AI allegedly records conversations with both virtual, human agents

Ambriz claims consumers who call into GCCCAI are presented with a virtual agent that is not identified as being provided by Google, leading them to “reasonably believe” it was provided by the company they were calling. 

Further, in the event a consumer requests to speak with a human agent, the virtual agent will transfer to the human agent a transcript of their conversation up to that point, and continue to listen to the communications, the Google class action alleges. 

“Consumers do not expect, nor do they have any reason to suspect, that the virtual agent or any sort of third party is listening in on the conversation,” the Google class action states. 

The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory relief along with an award of statutory damages for himself and all class members. 

A separate class action lawsuit was filed against Google, Alphabet Inc., and Google Deepmind earlier this year over claims they used copyrighted data without permission to train their AI product, Bard. 

Have you had your conversations with Verizon read and learned by Google through its Google Cloud Contact Center AI? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Neal J. Deckant of Bursor & Fisher PA. 

The Google customer service class action lawsuit is Ambriz, et al. v. Google, LLC, Case No. 3:23-cv-05437, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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• Actors file class action claiming AI startup stole voices
• Google class action claims company trained AI tool with copyrighted work
• Ex-Amazon employee alleges company violated multiple laws in developing AI