(MENAFN- Live Mint) Bollywood stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are urging a judge to safeguard their voices and likenesses in the age of artificial intelligence, with a major focus on Google's video platform, YouTube.

What is the matter?

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, widely recognised for her iconic appearances at the Cannes Film Festival, has asked the court to take down and ban AI-generated videos that violate their intellectual property rights.

In a broader move, the couple is also pushing for an order requiring Google to implement measures that prevent such YouTube videos, if uploaded from being used to train other AI systems, according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters.

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Over the past few years, a few Bollywood celebrities have started asserting their“personality rights” in Indian courts, as India lacks specific legal protections like those found in many U.S. states.

However, the Bachchans' legal action stands out as the most high-profile case so far, highlighting the growing concern over how misleading or deepfake videos on platforms like YouTube could be used to train AI models, raising serious questions about the intersection of personality rights and emerging technologies.

YouTube's content in“argument”

The actors argue that YouTube's content and third-party training policy is concerning as it lets users consent to sharing of a video they created to train rival AI models, risking further proliferation of misleading content online, according to near-identical filings from Abhishek and Aishwarya dated September 6, which are not public.

“Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infringing content i.e. first being uploaded on YouTube being viewed by the public, and then also being used to train,” the filings said.

Representatives for both the Bachchans and Google declined to comment on Reuters' inquiries.

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Last month, the Delhi High Court directed Google's legal counsel to file a written response ahead of the next scheduled hearing on January 15.

YouTube's value in India continues to grow, with its India Managing Director, Gunjan Soni, recently calling the platform“the new TV for India.” Boasting approximately 600 million users, India stands as YouTube's largest market worldwide, particularly popular for entertainment content, including Bollywood-related videos, Reuters reported.

Lawsuit alleges YouTube videos are“egregious”

Indian courts have begun siding with Bollywood celebrities concerned about the harmful effects of generative AI content on their public image. In 2023, a Delhi court issued an order preventing the misuse of actor Anil Kapoor's image, voice, and even his popular catchphrase.

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Reuters is the first to reveal the specific details of the Bachchans' legal action against Google, as outlined in extensive court filings spanning 1,500 pages.

While much of their case focuses on small-time sellers distributing unauthorised merchandise, such as posters, coffee mugs, stickers featuring their images, and even fake autographed photos, they also raise broader concerns.

Bachchans are seeking $450,000 in damages

The Bachchans are seeking $450,000 in damages from Google and others, along with a permanent injunction to prevent further misuse of their likeness and personal attributes.

The lawsuits contain hundreds of links and screenshots of what they allege are YouTube videos showing“egregious”,“sexually explicit” or“fictitious” AI content.

The judge in early September ordered 518 website links and posts specifically listed by the actors to be taken down, saying they caused financial harm to the couple and harmed their dignity and goodwill.

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Reuters, however, found videos similar to the examples of infringing videos cited in Abhishek's papers on YouTube.

Among them: a clip showing Abhishek posing but then suddenly kissing a film actress using AI manipulation; an AI depiction of Aishwarya and her co-star Salman Khan enjoying a meal together while Abhishek fumes standing behind; and a crocodile chasing Abhishek as Khan tries to save him.

Khan was in a relationship with Aishwarya long before her marriage.

Can AI generate Bollywood love stories?

YouTube's data-sharing policy allows content creators to opt in to share their videos for training AI models developed by third-party companies like OpenAI, Meta, and xAI. However, YouTube notes that it“can't control what a third-party company does” once users consent to such data sharing.

Also Read: Delhi High Court grants interim protection to Aishwarya Rai in personality rights case

In their court filings, the Bachchans argue that if AI models are trained on misleading or defamatory content that violates their intellectual property and portrays them negatively, these systems are likely to internalise and perpetuate that false information, resulting in its wider dissemination.

Eashan Ghosh, chair professor for intellectual property rights at the National Law University Delhi, said it would be difficult for actors to build a direct case against YouTube since their grievances are mostly with creators and personality rights infringement, Reuters reported.

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But“it wouldn't be beyond the pale for the court to nudge YouTube to write something into their user policies or set up a queue jump for celebrity claimants to get quicker responses to legal requests,” he said.

YouTube in May disclosed that it had paid more than $2.4 billion to Indian creators in the last three years. The actors alleged that creators infringing their personality rights can make money when videos become popular.

Reuters found a channel on YouTube titled "AI Bollywood Ishq" that shares“AI-generated Bollywood love stories”. Its 259 videos have garnered 16.5 million views. The most popular video, with 4.1 million views, shows an AI animation of Khan and Aishwarya in a pool, while another shows them on a swing.

In a tutorial, the channel explains that it used simple text prompts to create an image via X's Grok AI and then turned it into a video using Chinese AI startup MiniMax's Hailuo AI. A Reuters test generated an AI video showing lookalikes of Bollywoo stars Khan and Abhishek in a fistfight within five minutes.

Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infringing content.

It was unclear whether the YouTube channel consented to sharing those videos for AI training. "Content is made only for entertainment and creative storytelling," the channel's page said.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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