Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai File Lawsuit Against YouTube and Google Over AI-Generated Content

Bollywood actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have taken legal action against YouTube and its parent company Google, alleging the circulation of AI-generated deepfake videos featuring them in misleading and explicit contexts.

According to a Reuters report, the star couple has filed lawsuits demanding $450,000 (nearly ₹4 crore) in damages against Google and other parties, in addition to seeking a permanent injunction to prevent such misuse of their identity in the future.

The filings reportedly include "hundreds of links and screenshots of what Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan allege are YouTube videos showing 'egregious', 'sexually explicit', or 'fictitious' AI content."

The actors have also raised concerns over YouTube’s content and third-party training policies. "Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infringing content, i.e. first being uploaded on YouTube, being viewed by the public, and then also being used to train," the filings said.

The couple argued further that "if AI platforms are trained on biased content that portrays them in a negative manner and infringes their intellectual property rights, then AI models 'are likely to learn all such untrue' information, leading to its further spread."

The lawsuits, filed on September 6, are not publicly available, but according to reports, they highlight the risks of allowing user-created videos to be shared for AI model training. The actors stress that this policy could enable the uncontrolled proliferation of misleading content online.

Last month, the Delhi High Court took note of the matter and directed Google’s legal representatives to submit written responses before the next hearing, scheduled for January 15.

Recent Work of the Actors

On the work front, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s historical epic "Ponniyin Selvan: II" (2023), while Abhishek Bachchan was recently featured in Madhumita’s "Kaalidhar Laapata" alongside Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Daivik Bhagela. He is also set to appear in Siddharth Anand’s highly anticipated film "King", starring Shah Rukh Khan and Suhana Khan.