Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know ENTERTAINMENT 20 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY October 10, 2025 Spooked By AI, Bollywood Stars Drag Google Into Fight For ‘Personality Rights’ I n India, Bollywood stars are asking judges to protect their voice and persona in the era of artificial intelli- gence. One famous couple’s biggest target is Google’s video armYouTube. Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic Cannes Film Festival red carpet appearances, have asked a judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. But in a more far-reaching request, they also want Google ordered to have safeguards to ensure such YouTube videos uploaded anyway do not train other AI platforms, legal papers reviewed by Reuters show. A handful of Bollywood celebrities have begun assert- ing their “personality rights” in Indian courts over the last few years, as the country has no explicit protection for those like in many U.S. states. But the Bachchans’ lawsuits are the most high-profile to date about the inter- play of personality rights and the risk that misleading or deepfake YouTube videos could train other AI models. The actors argue that YouTube’s content and third- party training policy is concerning as it lets users consent to sharing of a video they created to train rival AI models, risking further proliferation of misleading content online, according to near-identical filings from Abhishek and Aishwarya dated September 6, which are not public. “Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infring- ing content i.e. first being uploaded on YouTube being viewed by the public, and then also being used to train,” the filings said. Representatives for the Bachchans and Google spokespersons did not respond to Reuters’ queries. The Delhi High Court last month asked Google’s lawyer in court to submit written responses before the next hear- ing on January 15. YouTube’s India managing director, Gunjan Soni, last month described the platform as “the new TV for India”. With around 600 million users, India is YouTube’s biggest market globally, and it is popular for entertainment con- tent like Bollywood videos. LAWSUIT ALLEGES YOUTUBE VIDEOS ARE ‘EGREGIOUS’ Indian courts have already started to back Bollywood stars upset about generative AI content damaging their reputation. In 2023, a Delhi court restrained the misuse of Anil Kapoor’s image, voice and even a catchphrase he often used. Reuters is first to report details of the Bachchans’ specific challenge against Google, which was contained in court filings spanning 1,500 pages where they mostly target little-known sellers for unauthorised physical mer- chandise like posters, coffee mugs and stickers with their photos, and even fake autographed pictures. They are also seeking $450,000 in damages against By Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra PHOTO:REUTERS/FRANCIS MASCARENHAS/FILE PHOTO Actor Abhishek Bachchan, his wife actress Aishwarya Rai and their daughter Aaradhya pose during a photo opportunity at Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, India, March 9, 2019. Two Indian-Origin Scientists Among 18 Finalists Named For Prestigious Blavatnik National Awards For Young Scientists T his September 9, the Blavatnik Family Founda- tion and the NewYork Academy of Scientists announced the Finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Three of the 18 will go on to be named Laureates and receive a $250,000 prize at a Gala ceremony in NewYork City on October 7, 2025. The Young Scientists Awards recognize scientific advances made by researchers in the United States across the following disciplines: Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences & Engineering, a press release from Blavatnik said. Former Director of the National Science Foundation and current President of the Global Learning Council in Switzerland Dr. Subra Suresh, will announce the three 2025 Laureates at the awards ceremony to be held at the American Museum of Natural History. An independent jury of expert scientists selected this year’s Finalists from a pool of 310 nominees representing 161 academic and research institutions across 42 U.S. states. Each Laureate will receive an unrestricted award of $250,000, the world’s largest unrestricted science prize, available for early-career scientists in the U.S. The re- maining 15 Finalists will each receive $15,000. The two Indian origin 2025 Finalists are Yogesh Surendranath, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry), in the Chemical Sciences category; and Prateek Mittal, PhD, Princeton University (Computer Science) in the Physical Sciences & Engineering category. Surendranath is recognized for pioneering molecular- level control of catalyst surfaces and electrostatic envi- ronments to revolutionize chemical reactions, enabling sustainable fuel production and significant reductions in carbon emissions. Mittal is recognized for pioneering work powering the security and privacy of the internet, generating over 2.5 billion cryptographic certificates and securing more than 350 million websites. Surendranath is the Donner Professor of Science at MIT. A B.S. in Chemistra and a B.A. in Physics from the University of Virginia, he received his Ph.D. fromMIT, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Berkeley. According to his Research Summary on Blavatni- kawards.org , Surendranath’s pioneering work gives a new understanding of how electric fields at catalyst surfaces control key chemical reactions. His breakthroughs advance sustainable chemistry by reducing carbon emis- sions and unlocking new routes for converting abundant resources like carbon dioxide and methane into valuable products. According to Blavatnik, “Surendranath’s research reshapes fundamental catalysis science and drives technologies essential for a low-carbon future, making it highly deserving of recognition.” Mittal is a Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technol- ogy, Guwahati, he has a Master of Science and a Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. According to Blavatnik, in our increasingly digitized world, the privacy and security of the information we transmit online is of paramount importance, and “Re- search being led by computer scientist Prateek Mittal, PhD, seeks to ensure that our data is safeguarded against those who would try and take it for their own benefit.” By discovering and fixing security vulnerabilities in well-known protocols, “Mittal has already transformed the methods being used to secure our internet data – leading to hundreds of millions of websites, both private and government-run alike, being secured,” the award- giving organization said. Internationally recognized by the scientific commu- nity, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, has at the close of 2025, recognized more than 500 scientists from 120 international research institutions and awarded prizes totaling nearly $20 million. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 50 companies after receiving the award, six of which are publicly traded and collectively valued at over $10 billion. By a StaffWriter PHOTO:BLAVATNIKAWARDS.ORG Yogesh Surendranath Prateek Mittal - Continued On Page22