Akshay moves court to protect personality rights against AI misuse
What's the story
Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar has approached the Bombay High Court, seeking protection for his personality rights. The actor filed a lawsuit against those allegedly violating his name, image, voice, and overall persona through artificial intelligence (AI) technology and other means. The case will be heard in the court on Wednesday. Notably, several other celebrities, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Rishab Shetty, and Akkineni Nagarjuna, have also recently sought legal recourse to protect their personality rights.
Definition
What are personality rights?
Personality rights refer to an individual's legal entitlement to control the commercial and public use of their identity. These rights protect features uniquely linked to a person, including their name, image, likeness, voice, signature, or trademark catchphrases, from being exploited without consent. Violations can occur through unauthorized commercial exploitation, such as using a celebrity's face in advertisements or intrusion into personal dignity via deepfakes, morphed images, or fabricated endorsements.
Recent incidents
Asha Bhosle was granted similar relief earlier
Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court issued an order protecting veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle's personality rights. The court restrained various entities from misusing her personal attributes like name and images using AI. It also stated that making AI tools available to replicate a celebrity's voice without consent is a violation of their identity rights. Hrithik Roshan's similar plea will also be heard by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.