HC restrains AI platforms from cloning Asha Bhosle’s voice, image

Recently Bhosle had approached the court after Mayk Inc, an AI platform, used sophisticated algorithms to clone her voice and then display, advertise, and promote it without her consent

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on September 29 granted interim protection of personality rights to renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle and held that unauthorised use of a celebrity’s personality traits violates their personality rights. The court said that such traits include their name, voice, photographs and caricatures.

Asha Bhosle was recently a victim of AI voice-cloning algorithms. (HT)

Recently Bhosle had approached the court after Mayk Inc, an AI platform, used sophisticated algorithms to clone her voice and then display, advertise, and promote it without her consent. A single-judge bench of justice Arif Doctor was responding to her plea seeking protection from the unauthorised use or commercial exploitation of her name, voice, signatures, photographs, images, and caricatures.

The court held that using AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools to convert any voice into that of a celebrity without their permission violates their rights. The court said, “Such tools facilitate the unauthorised appropriation and manipulation of a celebrity’s voice, which is a key component of their personal identity and public persona.”

The bench called such an act a “technological exploitation” which infringes upon a person’s right to control and protect their “likeness” or features. “(This) also undermines their ability to prevent commercial and deceptive uses of their identity”, the court added.

In Bhosle’s suit against Mayk, Inc, Amazon, Flipkart Internet, and Youtube, her counsel told the court that such distortion, mutilation, and modification of her performances was harming her reputation and violating her moral rights. He added that the videos had been created, uploaded, broadcasted for commercial gains, and YouTube had facilitated the imitation, misappropriation, and exploitation of the singer’s rights.

Bhosle’s plea highlighted that she had created a staggering repertoire of songs from different genres, and had won multiple national and international awards, including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan, and two Grammy nominations. Her counsel said that replicating her legacy was causing an “irreparable loss” to her image which could not be fixed by any money compensation.

Following her plea, the court restrained the platforms from using any of Bhosle’s traits, including her voice, vocal style, technique, manner of singing, or any other attributes of her personality for any commercial or personal gain. The bench further directed YouTube, Amazon, and Flipkart to take down or disable access to all the pages flagged by Bhosle within a week and to ensure that such similar unauthorised creations, if notified in the future, are taken down immediately.