Actor Anil Kapoor has become the only Indian actor to feature in Time magazine’s recently released list of 100 most influential people in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Other members on the list includes people like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Open AI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The only other artiste on the list is Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson.
The reason why Anil is part of the list is because a case filed by the actor in Delhi High Court last year against unauthorised use of his likeness by Artificial Intelligence. The court, in a judgment, restrained the misuse of the actor's name, image, voice and other attributes of persona, including the “jhakaas” catchphrase, for commercial gain.
The order was passed against several websites and platforms in a lawsuit by the actor, alleging unauthorised exploitation of his personality and celebrity rights for commercial use.
It was observed that while there can be no doubt that free speech is protected, the same would be illegal when it “crosses the line” and results in tarnishing and jeopardising individual personality rights. The court said “fame for a person comes with disadvantages” and “this case shows that reputation and fame can transcend into damage." Such misuse can damage a celebrity’s right to endorsement, it added.
Scarlett is part of the list owing to her legal battle against OpenAI over using a voice similar to hers for their chatbot. As per Time website, in May this year, Scarlett claimed in a statement that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had personally reached out to her, asking her to voice the company’s new chatbot, ChatGPT-4o. After she turned down the offer, OpenAI released a voice that sounded so similar to hers, that her “closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,”she wrote. In the statement, Scarlett linked her personal feud with OpenAI to a larger one over the protection of peoples’ likeness and identities in a new era in which deepfakes are easily created and increasingly rampant.
OpenAI responded that the voice was not inspired by Johansson, and was recorded by a different actor. But the company proceeded to pull the voice of the chatbot anyway. The backlash against the company was intense, with users accusing Altman of acting unethically, and of cutting corners in terms of permissions and copyright. In response to the incident, Senator Brian Schatz called for regulation, writing on Twitter: “The right to one’s own image and voice must be protected.” The following month, he co-introduced an AI “public awareness and education” bill, stressing the importance of teaching the public how to detect deepfakes.
It is to be noted that Scarlett is famous for voicing an AI assistant in Spike Jonze’s futuristic romantic-drama Her (2013)
On the work front Anil will next be seen in the Suresh Triveni directorial Subedaar. Scarlett, on the other hand, will feature in Jurassic World: Rebirth.