Explore how AI and deepfake technology are threatening personality rights. Learn about recent celebrity lawsuits, global legal frameworks, and why protecting your digital identity matters more than ever.
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Imagine waking up to find a video of yourself endorsing a product you have never used, or promoting an investment scheme you know nothing about. The face is yours. The voice sounds like yours. But you never recorded that video. This is the reality millions of people now face as artificial intelligence makes it easier than ever to copy someone’s identity without their consent.
The Deepfake Threat to Celebrity Identity
In recent months, Indian courts have seen a wave of lawsuits from some of the biggest names in entertainment. Actor Suniel Shetty approached the Bombay High Court in October 2025 after discovering that AI generated images and deepfake videos were being used to falsely show him endorsing astrology services and real estate products. The court granted immediate protection, calling the situation a “lethal combination of a depraved mind and the misuse of technology.”
Legendary singer Asha Bhosle also won protection against AI companies that were cloning her voice without permission. The court ruled that making AI tools available to convert any voice into that of a celebrity without consent violates their personality rights. Other Bollywood stars including Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan have all filed similar cases seeking protection from deepfakes and unauthorised AI content.
The problem extends beyond entertainment. Entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo obtained a court order in May 2025 against fraudsters who created deepfake videos showing him endorsing fake stock market investment schemes. Many unsuspecting viewers lost money after trusting these fabricated endorsements.
What Are Personality Rights and Why Do They Matter
Personality rights are legal protections that prevent the unauthorised use of your identity. They cover two main areas. First is the right of publicity, which stops others from using your name, face, or voice for commercial purposes without permission. Second is the right to privacy, which protects you from unwanted exposure or misrepresentation of your personal life.
For celebrities, these rights carry significant commercial value. A famous actor’s endorsement can sell products worth millions. When AI creates fake endorsements, it not only cheats consumers but also steals the celebrity’s commercial worth. More importantly, personality rights protect human dignity. Every person has the right to control how they are represented to the world.
How AI is Creating New Dangers
Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence to swap faces, manipulate expressions, and synthesise speech. With just a few minutes of audio or video, AI can now create convincing replicas of almost anyone. The technology has been used to create fake celebrity endorsements for weight loss products and dental services. It has also enabled financial fraud, with one company losing 25 million dollars after an employee was fooled by a deepfake video call featuring what appeared to be senior executives.
In Hollywood, actress Scarlett Johansson confronted OpenAI in 2024 after the company released an AI voice that sounded remarkably similar to hers. Johansson had explicitly declined to lend her voice to the project, yet OpenAI created something strikingly close. The company eventually removed the voice option after public backlash.
More recently, SAG AFTRA, the Hollywood actors’ union, filed a complaint against Epic Games in May 2025 for using AI to replicate the late James Earl Jones’ iconic Darth Vader voice in Fortnite without negotiating with the union.
How Different Countries Handle These Rights
The legal landscape varies significantly across the world. In the United States, personality rights are governed by state laws rather than federal legislation, creating a patchwork of protections. However, Congress is considering the NO FAKES Act, which would create a federal framework to protect individuals from unauthorised digital replicas.
The European Union has taken a more structured approach. The AI Act of 2024 requires that any AI generated or manipulated content must be clearly labelled, with penalties reaching 35 million euros or seven percent of global revenue for violations. France has specifically criminalised non consensual sexual deepfakes with penalties of up to two years imprisonment.
China became an early mover by implementing deep synthesis regulations in January 2023, requiring explicit labelling of AI generated content and consent from individuals whose images or voices are used. South Korea took an aggressive stance in September 2024 by making it illegal not just to create but also to possess or watch sexually explicit deepfakes.
Denmark has proposed treating a person’s likeness as intellectual property, a first of its kind approach in Europe.
India’s Legal Challenges
India does not have a dedicated law on personality rights. Courts have been filling this gap by interpreting the Constitution’s Article 21, which guarantees the right to live with dignity, along with provisions in the Information Technology Act and Copyright Act.
The landmark 2017 Supreme Court judgment in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India established privacy as a fundamental right, providing a constitutional foundation for personality rights protection. However, these protections largely depend on individual court cases rather than clear statutory provisions.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 and its rules notified in November 2025 provide some framework for data protection, but do not specifically address deepfakes or AI manipulation of identities. Legal experts have called for India to advocate for an international treaty on digital content and introduce clear provisions protecting an individual’s likeness, voice, and image against AI manipulation.
The Ethical Dimension
Beyond the legal technicalities, there is a fundamental ethical question at stake. In a world where anyone’s identity can be digitally replicated, what does it mean to be yourself? The unauthorised creation of digital replicas undermines personal autonomy and can cause lasting psychological harm to victims.
Protecting personality rights is no longer just about celebrities defending their commercial interests. It is about ensuring that every person retains control over their own identity in the digital age. As AI technology continues to advance, the line between what is real and what is fabricated will only become more difficult to distinguish.
The courts are rising to meet this challenge, but stronger laws and international cooperation will be essential to protect human identity in the years ahead.
Conclusion
The rise of deepfakes has turned personality rights into one of the most urgent digital issues of our time. The cases involving Indian celebrities, creators, and entrepreneurs show how easily someone’s identity can be misused, and how quickly that misuse can spread. What once required sophisticated studios can now be done on a laptop by anyone with the right software. The law is trying to keep pace, but most countries are still working with frameworks that were never designed for AI driven manipulation.
At its core, this isn’t only about protecting commercial value. It’s about protecting people from being misrepresented, exploited, or pushed into situations they never agreed to. When your likeness, voice, or reputation can be copied and used without your knowledge, it becomes harder to trust anything you see online. It also becomes harder to define personal autonomy in a world where your “digital self” can travel far beyond your control.
Countries like China, the European Union, and South Korea have started building clearer rules, while the United States is debating federal legislation. India’s courts have stepped in admirably, but lasting protection will require clear laws that directly address AI cloning, deepfakes, and synthetic identities. Without that, victims will continue relying on emergency court orders instead of predictable rights.
As AI becomes more capable, the stakes will only grow. Protecting your digital identity is no longer optional. It is central to safeguarding trust, dignity, and personal freedom. The future depends on strong laws, ethical innovation, and a global commitment to defending the authenticity of every individual.
Source: Akshay, Hrithik file suit to protect personality rights from AI misuse & What are personality rights and how are courts shielding Indian celebrities
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