Bombay High Court orders takedown of AI morphed images of Shilpa Shetty; calls them 'extremely disturbing and shocking'

The Bombay High Court has termed the AI (artificial intelligence)-generated and morphed photos of actor Shilpa Shetty as "extremely disturbing and shocking" and directed several social media platforms to forthwith delete and remove all such links and websites.

Why Shilpa Shetty filed for protection of personality rights

The actor moved the HC seeking protection of her personality rights and, in her suit, alleged that AI tools were used to clone her voice and mannerisms to create morphed images, books and other merchandise without her authorisation. The actor sought an injunction to all the websites to take down the content and to also restrain them from using her name, voice or image without permission.

Court reacts to morphed photos

A vacation bench of Justice Advait Sethna noted in its order that the material uploaded on the websites was "prima facie extremely disturbing" and "no personality, much less a person and or a woman can be portrayed in a fashion which affects her fundamental right to privacy and that too, without her knowledge and or consent" PTI reported.

The high court said in its order that Shetty has tendered photos from such social media platforms which depict her inappropriately and unacceptably.

"These pictures prima facie appear shocking," Justice Sethna said.

"She is a well-known film personality and also active on various social media platforms. Portrayal of such images through URLs would tarnish her image and reputation and this cannot be countenanced," the court added.

"In the interest of justice," the high court directed all the defendants to forthwith delete the URLs from their respective platforms.

Bollywood celebs seek protection of personality rights

Just last week, PTI reported that the High Court in its order, directed multiple websites to remove obscene and objectionable content linked to actor R Madhavan. The court also extended protection to his personality rights.

Over the past months, the court has passed similar orders in favour of several Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Nagarjuna, and several others. Salman Khan also moved to court for the protection of his personality rights. With this, the court has barred AI platforms from unauthorised commercial exploitation of celebrity names, images and voices.

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