'Truly Alarming': Bombay HC Orders Deletion Of Akshay Kumar’s AI Maharishi Valmiki Video
Akshay Kumar has taken legal action against the unauthorised use of his image in videos created through artificial intelligence.
The Bombay High Court, in a ruling on Wednesday, characterised the “realistic” quality of deepfake visuals as “truly alarming” and granted actor Akshay Kumar interim protection concerning his personality rights, as reported by LiveLaw.
The court’s order voiced serious apprehension regarding a deepfake video in which the actor appeared to make communally sensitive remarks about Rishi Valmiki.
According to a PTI report, the order said, "The consequences that can arise from such content being disseminated are indeed most grave and serious."
“Both in the context of images and videos, the morphing is so sophisticated and deceptive that it is virtually impossible to discern that the same are not genuine images/videos of the plaintiff (Kumar).”
The court noted that these videos not only violate the actor’s personal and moral rights but also endanger the safety and welfare of his family. It added that such material could harm society and disturb public order, which appears to be the motive behind creating it.
"Hence, such content needs to be removed from the public domain immediately, not only in the interest of the plaintiff but also in the larger public interest,” the order said.
Earlier, Kumar had expressed his concerns about the video through a post on X.
He said, “I have recently come across some AI-generated videos of a film trailer showing me in the role of Maharishi Valmiki. I want to clarify that all such videos are fake and created using AI. What’s worse, some news channels decide to pick these up as ‘news’ without even verifying if these are real or morphed.”
“In today’s time, when misleading content is being produced at great speed through manipulative AI, I sincerely request media houses to verify and report only after authenticating the information,” he added.
The court also underlined that, being a prominent actor, Akshay Kumar possesses exclusive rights linked to his personality. This covers his real and stage names, image, voice, manner of speech and unique style of performance.
The bench directed that all such material be taken down from social media and issued a ban on uploading any such content in the future.
