Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Sue YouTube, Google Over Deepfake Videos

Actor couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai have filed lawsuits against YouTube and its parent company Google, seeking $450,000 (around ₹4 crore) in damages over AI-generated deepfake videos. They are also demanding a permanent injunction to prevent further misuse of their likeness, Reuters reported.

The suits cite hundreds of links and screenshots of YouTube videos that allegedly contain “egregious,” “sexually explicit,” or “fictitious” AI-generated content involving the actors. The filings, dated September 6, argue that YouTube’s policies — which allow users to consent to their videos being used for AI training — risk spreading such content even further.

“Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of infringing material — first uploaded on YouTube, then viewed publicly, and later reused to train other models,” the filings state.

The actors also warned that biased or defamatory content used in AI training could result in models replicating and amplifying false information about them, thereby infringing their rights and harming their reputation.

Last month, the Delhi High Court asked Google’s counsel to file written responses before the next hearing on January 15.

On the work front, Aishwarya Rai was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023), while Abhishek Bachchan starred in Madhumita’s Kaalidhar Laapata. He is next set to appear in Siddharth Anand’s King, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Suhana Khan.