Taking a cue from Hollywood, Indian actor Anil Kapoor recently safeguarded his digital persona. The Delhi High Court made a historic decision, safeguarding his ‘personality rights’ and acknowledging the misuse of AI tools to create deep fakes and explicit videos. 

​​The court ordered that 16 entities that were using his name and image without his permission will be “restrained from in any manner utilising Anil Kapoor’s name, likeness, image, voice or any other aspect of his persona to create any merchandise, ringtones … either for monetary gain or otherwise.” 

While the move by Anil Kapoor is appreciable, it raises the question whether the Indian film industry will resist the adoption of generative AI and deep fakes to create new stories and content similar to Hollywood. 

Navigating their way 

Amrit Thomas, the chief data officer at Zee Entertainment, shared his insights at Cypher 2023 about Zee’s rapid adoption of generative AI to create innovative and ethically sound content, aiming to enhance the audience experience.

“We are training our models on our own IP” he said clarifying that Zee is being careful to only use content that belongs to them, staying within their own creative boundaries. 

Moreover, Thomas believes it’s essential to involve humans when creating content with generative AI. “It’s like a new canvas to paint, a platform to write your story. That’s why I have an issue with the term ‘fully AI generated’,” he said, emphasising that there will never be a completely AI-generated film; humans will always play a role in the creative process.

“I’m using AI to enhance my creativity and intuition. What happens in day to day work is I get so bogged down in getting that story out and trying to sell it that I don’t have time for my creativity to do work. The role of AI is to allow you as a screenwriter, to really explore your audience and  that needs space. AI gives you that space.” 

On similar lines, The Rabbit Hole, a brand film agency that produced the ‘Brand Film for the ICC World Cup 2023,’  recently revealed in an exclusive interview with AIM that the company has integrated generative AI tools such as Dall-e and Midjourney to enhance its video creation process. “These tools are particularly valuable during the initial stages of storyboarding and pre-visualization, helping us generate visual concepts,” the company said.

Biren Ghose, country head, India & global excom member, Technicolor Creative Studios during Cypher explained that in the future how IP works is going to be changed. He said that famous personalities will have an IP for both their digital and physical avatars. “You may have a manager, managing your physical avatar, and then that person will license your avatar for a particular ad commercial or a movie or for an advertisement,” he said. 

Addressing the strikes and the challenge that the actors in the west are facing, he said that Technicolor Creative Studios will make sure that your avatar is scanned and that you are now a digital virtual person. Moreover, he explained that the usage of someone else’s IP would be subject to specific applications outlined in contractual agreements, ensuring a regulated and ethical framework. 

He gave an example of a recent commercial which Technicolor Creative Studios created for Mastercard where it used the AI based neural rendering in order to create Messi’s image rendering an entirely new visual effects method using no CGI. In this case he explained that the company got the necessary permissions from that personality to produce the commercial. 

Also, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan recently partnered with Ikonz Studios to explore generative AI. This venture aims to merge cultural icons and iconic intellectual properties into interactive mediums using AI technology.

What separates India from the West 

The SAG-AFTRA strike has persisted for over 3 months, and recently, negotiations between Hollywood actors and studios have tragically collapsed, extinguishing hopes of ending the performers’ strike.

“Unlike the Western world, in the eastern part, our areas are far more collaborative and collectivist,” said Thomas, comparing the situation with Hollywood and explaining that it is time to bring this collaborative culture into the AI domain as a force for good.

Thomas further said that as a community, we need to be AI evangelists. The leverage of the technology should be for good. In the end, humans created AI. “I’m an optimist. I believe in humanity and human beings’ ability, the right to overcome every hurdle along the way.”

Comparing the strategies employed by both industries, it’s evident that Bollywood has shown maturity in embracing generative AI. Unlike Hollywood, India hasn’t witnessed strikes related to AI usage; instead, numerous instances highlight their willingness to integrate this innovative technology into content creation.