Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan sue YouTube and Google over AI videos, seek Rs 4 cr in damages
Petition calls for immediate removal and permanent ban of all videos that infringe on Bachchans’ intellectual property and personality rights
PTC Web Desk: Bollywood power couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have taken legal action against YouTube and its parent company Google, filing a lawsuit that seeks Rs 4 crore (approx. $450,000) in damages. The move comes after a flood of AI-generated deepfake videos featuring the actors surfaced online, raising alarm over privacy violations and misuse of artificial intelligence.
The petition, filed on September 6, calls for the immediate removal and permanent ban of all videos that infringe on the Bachchans’ intellectual property and personality rights. The actors have also asked the Delhi High Court to direct YouTube to ensure their content is not misused for training rival AI models, stressing the increasing risks of artificial intelligence in creating manipulated media.
According to court filings, the couple described the deepfake videos as “egregious” and in some cases sexually explicit. One channel, AI Bollywood Ishq, was specifically highlighted in the petition. The channel has uploaded over 259 manipulated clips, garnering 16.5 million views. Among the controversial content are fabricated visuals of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with Salman Khan in a pool, and altered footage showing Abhishek Bachchan in misleading situations, including kissing scenes and exaggerated reactions involving his wife.
The Bachchans argued that such videos, if used in AI training datasets, could multiply instances of misuse—spreading far beyond YouTube. “Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of infringing use – first being uploaded on YouTube and viewed by the public, and then also being exploited for AI training,” the petition stated.
The actors also raised concerns about YouTube’s policies that allow creators to grant consent for their videos to be used in AI training. They called this practice dangerous, pointing out that deepfake content misrepresenting individuals could be replicated and amplified by artificial intelligence itself.
India currently lacks a comprehensive legal framework to protect personality rights, unlike some international jurisdictions. While several Bollywood celebrities have approached courts to safeguard their image and identity, legal experts say the Bachchans’ lawsuit marks one of the most high-profile battles against AI misuse in Indian entertainment history.