Bombay High Court Protects Asha Bhosle’s Personality Rights Against AI Misuse

The Bombay High Court granted ad-interim protection to playback singer Asha Bhosle restraining AI platforms, online marketplaces, and sellers from cloning her voice or commercially exploiting her persona, image, likeness, voice or signature without her consent. The order held that unauthorized digital cloning or AI-based misappropriation of a celebrity’s personal attributes prima facie violates personality rights (which are rooted in privacy, defamation, and publicity torts). The judgment is significant in the digital age as courts navigate new fronts of “identity appropriation” posed by generative AI, reinforcing that voice, likeness, and persona remain protected under common law principles unless expressly permitted.