Primary Keyword: personality rights AI India deepfake legal framework  |  Word Count: ~620  |  Category: Intellectual Property & Technology Law

Description :AI can now clone your voice, face, and mannerisms. India's personality rights law is struggling to keep pace. Here's what the law says — and what it urgently needs to say.

In 2024, deepfake videos of several Bollywood actors endorsing financial scams were circulated on social media before platforms took them down. The damage was done. In another instance, an AI-generated voice clone of a deceased musician was used commercially without family consent. These are not science fiction scenarios — they are the new legal battleground of personality rights in the age of AI.

What Are Personality Rights?

Personality rights refer to the legal protection afforded to an individual's identity — their name, image, likeness, voice, and distinctive persona. They sit at the intersection of privacy law, intellectual property, and tort law. In India, personality rights have been judicially recognised rather than codified in statute, emerging primarily through cases involving public figures and celebrities.

The landmark Delhi High Court judgment in Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India (2023) granted sweeping protections to the actor's name, image, and even his signature dialogue "Jhakaas" against unauthorised commercial use — including AI-generated content.

How AI Changes Everything

Traditional personality rights were designed for a world where impersonation required effort — an actor, a costume, a studio. Generative AI has collapsed that barrier entirely. Today, a voice clone can be created from a 30-second audio sample. A digital double can be generated from social media photographs. A deceased individual can be "resurrected" for commercial campaigns.

This creates at least three new legal challenges:

• Posthumous rights: Does an individual's personality right survive death, and for how long? India has no statutory answer.
• Synthetic media liability: Who is liable when an AI platform generates a defamatory deepfake — the user, the platform, or the AI developer?
• Consent and data sourcing: Many AI models are trained on publicly available images and audio without explicit consent from the subjects. Does this constitute a rights violation?

What the Law Says — and Where It Falls Short

India currently relies on a patchwork of legal remedies: tort law (passing off), the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Copyright Act, 1957, and the recently enacted Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. None of these instruments specifically addresses AI-generated personality infringement.

The IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Amendment Rules, 2023 require platforms to label AI-generated content, but this is a disclosure obligation — not a rights protection mechanism. The gap between disclosure and remediation is vast.

What India Needs: A Right of Publicity Framework

Drawing on the US model (particularly California's Right of Publicity Act and the proposed NO FAKES Act at the federal level), India should consider codifying personality rights to include: express consent requirements for AI-generated likenesses; platform liability for unchecked synthetic media; and a defined posthumous protection period.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are personality rights protected under Indian law?

Yes, but only through judicial recognition and common law principles. There is no dedicated statute protecting personality rights in India as of 2025.

Can AI-generated content of a person be taken down in India?

A person can seek takedown through IT Act grievance mechanisms or seek injunctive relief from courts. Several High Courts have granted interim injunctions in such cases.

Conclusion

The law of personality rights was built for a slower world. AI has rendered it obsolete at a pace no legislature anticipated. India must move from judicial improvisation to statutory clarity — establishing a Right of Publicity framework that keeps pace with synthetic media technology. Your digital self deserves as much legal protection as your physical one.

References

1. Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India & Ors., Delhi High Court, CS(COMM) 652/2023
2. Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
3. IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023
4. US NO FAKES Act — Proposed Federal Legislation (2023)
5. Copyright Act, 1957 — Section 57 (Author's Special Rights)