Could an AI-generated selfie with a Bollywood star get you into trouble? It might.
In the past couple of weeks, some of Bollywood's biggest celebrities have sought to legally protect their "personality rights". The list includes director Karan Johar, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and her husband and actor Abhishek Bachchan.
Personality rights, also called publicity rights, refer to a person's right to benefit, commercially or otherwise, from their identity or persona. This includes the person's name, image, voice, mannerisms or even a catchphrase or gesture that's unique to them.
These rights also protect a person's identity from being misused or commercially exploited, and do not extend beyond the individual.
So, a celebrity can profit from their fame by endorsing a product for a fee, but their image cannot be used by another person to promote a product without consent.
