New Delhi: The rise of AI-generated content has prompted Indian celebrities such as actor Anil Kapoor to take legal action in the Delhi High Court to protect their intellectual property rights (IPR).
New Delhi: The rise of AI-generated content has prompted Indian celebrities such as actor Anil Kapoor to take legal action in the Delhi High Court to protect their intellectual property rights (IPR).
Actor Rashmika Mandana’s recent experience with AI-generated deepfakes, which went viral on social media, has only heightened the concern surrounding such content.
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Actor Rashmika Mandana’s recent experience with AI-generated deepfakes, which went viral on social media, has only heightened the concern surrounding such content.
The rapid spread of AI-generated text, voice-overs, deep fakes, and memes through affordable AI programs like ChatGPT, Midjounreny, Stable Diffusion, and AI voice startups like ElevenLabs is a growing challenge for public figures, including actors, authors, and others personalities. As AI technology has advanced, the difficulties these celebrities face in protecting their likeness and content have increased.
Mint sheds light on the challenges faced by these celebrities, assessing the effectiveness of existing Indian copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR) laws in protecting and protecting their rights in the face of these technological advances.
Risks posed by Generative AI for celebrities
The recent case of Mandanna is a perfect illustration of how vulnerable celebrities are to AI-generated content. In this case, a morphed video shows a woman resembling Mandana entering a restaurant wearing skimpy clothing. Without a keen eye, it’s challenging to tell that it’s not the actor, but someone else. This level of AI-generated deep fakes and morphed photos has caused panic among celebrities. Prior to fact-checking, such content quickly spread, reaching millions of viewers on social media platforms.
Mandana is not alone. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s AI-generated voices have flooded platforms like Instagram. A digitally generated voice mimics Modi singing famous songs in multiple Indian languages. This content is especially popular among creators who use these memes for political campaigns.
The trend is affecting celebrities worldwide, with many Hollywood workers striking to demand better pay and protection against AI exploitation. Reports indicate that a London-based AI startup, Realeyes, is offering $150 an hour to participate in an AI research project. This project involves creating virtual avatars of Hollywood actors by capturing their emotions and expressions. This initiative reinforces concerns that actors can easily be replaced in major productions using generative AI tools, leading to commercial exploitation without consent, leading to more financial losses, dilution of their personal brand value and social media trolling.
Legal intervention
In September, Anil Kapoor was granted a stay by the Delhi High Court for unauthorized use of his signature move ‘Jhakaas’ by AI platforms in memes. Last year, actor Amitabh Bachchan too got a similar restraining order from the court for unauthorized use of his voice and pictures for a machine-generated message based on the iconic show Kaun Banega Crorepati. However, at the time of writing, there is no report of Mandana taking any legal action against the violation of her privacy.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said these deep fakes can be dealt with under the Information Technology Act, 2000, which includes Section 66D and the Information Technology Intermediation Rules. Rule 3(1)(b)(vii) requires social media intermediaries to inform users not to host content that impersonates another person within their provisions. Rule 3(2)(b) requires intermediaries to immediately remove or disable access to imitation content, including electronically manipulated images, within 24 hours of receiving a related complaint.
Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday urged people who have been affected by deep counterfeiting to file complaints with the police and seek remedial measures under the IT Act, which provides for jail and financial penalties against offenders. He added that platforms have been asked to take action against the spread of deepfakes.
Generative AI and Current Copyright and IPR Regime in India
According to legal experts, a key challenge with the current law lies in the assumption in India’s Copyright Act that the author must be human. “Even when the work is computer generated, the person who caused the virtual generation of such work is considered the author, not the program itself. It is clear that the definition excludes AI systems as authors of any work,” the experts point out.
“This position has been taken by the Indian courts in various decisions. However, the situation is not so simple. With the advent of ChatGPT and other such AIs, the lines between originality and borrowed work are blurring,” said Ekta Rai, Advocate, Delhi High Court.
Aviral Kapoor, a partner at Alagh & Kapoor Law Offices, suggested that in dealing with the issues raised by artificial intelligence and digital content creation, it would be wise to rethink the definitions of originality and authorship. This would include defining rights in relation to AI-generated content and ensuring that legal systems adapt along with technological progress.
Swati Sharma, Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, “This is currently a law in the process of being developed. There are no set parameters for how the AI will function. All governments globally are working on a framework to define the parameters for AI functionality and hence we can say that Indian law is ready or globally, are some of the laws of any country ready to address the challenges of AI? I would say no, because AI itself is so transformative right now. It will take us a long time to come to a conclusion on the framework or parameters in which they will function and then the laws will have to be amended accordingly.”
