Indian travel agency Yatra Online used the facial likeness of Indian model Kanchan Nagar in an advert without her permission, resulting in the violation of her personality rights and a legal complaint.

Nagar issued a legal notice to the Advertising Standards Council of India emphasising the harms of the unregulated use of AI and the need for for ethics in advertising in order to protect the authenticity of people’s identity and their privacy.

The incident raised concerns about the misuse of deepfake and AI technologies in advertising.

These technologies can create realistic images or videos, known as ‘deepfakes’, without individuals’ consent, potentially leading to fraud, defamation, and the spread of misinformation and disinformation, amongst other known harms.