HC gives relief to Arijit; says AI tools mimicking violate 'personality rights'

Granting relief to composersinger Arijit Singh the Bombay High Court has said AI tools generating content using a celebritys voice image or other attributes without consent violate his or her personality rightsCelebrities are particularly vulnerable to unauthorised generation of content through AI tools the court saidHearing a petition filed by the famous singer Justice R I Chagla in his interim order on July 26 restrained eight online platforms from using Singhs personality rights and directed them to remove all such content and also voice conversion toolsThe singer had moved the court claiming that these platforms provide AI tools to synthesize artificial sound recordings by mimicking his voice mannerisms and other attributesArijit Singh has consciously refrained from any kind of brand endorsement or gross commercialization of his personality traits for the past several years his lawyer Hiren Kamod saidThe high court agreed that Singh should be given interim reliefWhat shocks the conscience of this court is the manner in which celebrities particularly performers such as the present plaintiff are vulnerable to being targeted by unauthorized generative AI content the judge saidThe freedom of speech and expression allows for critique and commentary but does not grant the license to exploit a celebritys persona for commercial gain Justice Chagla saidMaking AI tools available that enable the conversion of any voice into that of a celebrity without hisher permission constitutes a violation of the celebritys personality rights it addedSuch tools facilitate unauthorized appropriation and manipulation of a celebritys voice a key component of their personal identity Justice Chagla saidFurther such use of the AI technology also undermines celebrities ability to prevent deceptive uses of their identity the HC saidSuch platforms are emboldening Internet users to create counterfeit sound recordings and videos it observedSingh has gained immense goodwill and reputation over the course of a very successful career the judge notedPrima facie I am of the view that the plaintiffs personality traits including his name voice photograph caricature image likeness persona and other attributes of his personality are protectable elements of his personality rights Justice Chagla saidAdvocate Kamod told the court that Arijit Singh hails from a small town and has humble beginnings and now he is one of the most celebrated singers in the worldThe petition filed through Legasis Partners sought protection of his personality rights with regard to his name voice signatures photograph image caricature likeness persona and various other attributes of his personality against unauthorizedunlicensed commercial exploitation and misuseSeveral YouTube channels were creating memes and GIFs causing ridicule embarrassment and humiliation and affecting the singers reputation it saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever