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By Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Hundreds of AI-generated Bollywood videos with 16 million views have been deleted from Google's YouTube after Reuters reported they were similar to those at the centre of a legal challenge filed by a celebrity couple to protect their rights. Bollywood stars Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have asked a New Delhi judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. Their lawsuits also challenge YouTube's AI training policy. While a judge had ordered the takedown of a handful of YouTube links last month which the actors sought, Reuters reported this week that the platform was still showing hundreds of other similar videos, some showing celebrities kissing or their lookalikes romancing through AI manipulation. One such popular YouTube channel sharing "AI-generated Bollywood love stories" has been removed. It previously had 259 videos, some sexually explicit in nature, that had been viewed 16.5 million times. On Friday its link stated: "This page isn't available." None of its videos are accessible anymore. YOUTUBE SAYS IT REMOVES DOCTORED, MISLEADING CONTENT YouTube said in an email to Reuters the channel flagged in the news agency's report was deleted by the creator and the content is no longer available on the platform.  It did not elaborate on that account — titled "AI Bollywood Ishq" — but said the company prohibits harmful misinformation and removes content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users. A message to the email address previously listed for YouTube channel @AIbollywoodishq bounced back on Friday. The owner had not responded to Reuters queries earlier this week. With around 600 million users, India is YouTube's biggest market globally, and it is popular for entertainment content like Bollywood videos. The most popular video on the now-deleted channel was a video with 4.1 million views showing an AI animation of Salman Khan and Aishwarya in a swimming pool. Khan was in a relationship with Aishwarya long before her marriage. Representatives for Khan and the Bachchans did not immediately respond to Reuters queries on Friday. Some other videos similar to the examples cited in Abhishek's lawsuit papers on YouTube were still online as of Friday. Among them were a clip showing Abhishek posing but then suddenly kissing a film actress using AI manipulation, and an AI depiction of Aishwarya and Khan enjoying a meal together, while Abhishek Bachchan fumes. The Bachchans are seeking $450,000 in damages against Google and other little-known websites offering unauthorised merchandise with images of them. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra, Editing by William Maclean)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Hundreds of AI-generated Bollywood videos with 16 million views have been deleted from Google's YouTube after Reuters reported they were similar to those at the centre of a legal challenge filed by a celebrity couple to protect their rights. Bollywood stars Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have asked a New Delhi judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. Their lawsuits also challenge YouTube's AI training policy. While a judge had ordered the takedown of a handful of YouTube links last month which the actors sought, Reuters reported this week that the platform was still showing hundreds of other similar videos, some showing celebrities kissing or their lookalikes romancing through AI manipulation. One such popular YouTube channel sharing "AI-generated Bollywood love stories" has been removed. It previously had 259 videos, some sexually explicit in nature, that had been viewed 16.5 million times. On Friday its link stated: "This page isn't available." None of its videos are accessible anymore. YOUTUBE SAYS IT REMOVES DOCTORED, MISLEADING CONTENT YouTube said in an email to Reuters the channel flagged in the news agency's report was deleted by the creator and the content is no longer available on the platform.  It did not elaborate on that account — titled "AI Bollywood Ishq" — but said the company prohibits harmful misinformation and removes content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users. A message to the email address previously listed for YouTube channel @AIbollywoodishq bounced back on Friday. The owner had not responded to Reuters queries earlier this week. With around 600 million users, India is YouTube's biggest market globally, and it is popular for entertainment content like Bollywood videos. The most popular video on the now-deleted channel was a video with 4.1 million views showing an AI animation of Salman Khan and Aishwarya in a swimming pool. Khan was in a relationship with Aishwarya long before her marriage. Representatives for Khan and the Bachchans did not immediately respond to Reuters queries on Friday. Some other videos similar to the examples cited in Abhishek's lawsuit papers on YouTube were still online as of Friday. Among them were a clip showing Abhishek posing but then suddenly kissing a film actress using AI manipulation, and an AI depiction of Aishwarya and Khan enjoying a meal together, while Abhishek Bachchan fumes. The Bachchans are seeking $450,000 in damages against Google and other little-known websites offering unauthorised merchandise with images of them. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra, Editing by William Maclean)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Kentaro Okasaka and Joseph Campbell TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese restaurants, bars and stores are running low on beer and other beverages from industry leader Asahi Group as the impact from a cyberattack entered a fifth day on Friday, with no resolution in sight. Known for its Super Dry beer and Nikka Whisky as well as non-alcoholic beverages, Asahi suspended operations in Japan on Monday, including order processing, shipping and call center functions after a cyberattack caused a system outage. The company began processing orders for some products on Wednesday by visiting customers in person and handwriting orders, it said. While it continues to take orders for food and soft drinks, it has not taken further orders for alcoholic beverages to prioritise outgoing shipments, which began on Friday for the first batch of manually filled orders, it said. FULL RECOVERY NOT IN SIGHT YET In updating its emergency responses, Asahi announced on Friday evening that ransomware attacks on company servers had been confirmed, and that it aimed to restart call center operations to handle phone enquiries from customers next week. Asahi is working with outside specialists to restore its computer system, but it is unclear how soon the company can resume full operations, it said. Asahi also said it was looking into the potential impact on its earnings. The breach is the latest in a string of cyber and ransomware attacks targeting global companies. In Britain, luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover was forced to shut down its factories last month, while Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group have also fallen victim to sophisticated breaches. On Friday in Tokyo, one eatery that normally only serves Asahi-branded beer said it was on its last keg of Asahi Super Dry, and that its supplier brought beer from rival Sapporo a day earlier, citing the shortage. "It's a bit of a problem," said Tomiko Yano, a chef at restaurant Kushiyaki Tosaka. "We specialise in yakitori (skewered chicken) and it pairs really well with Super Dry. A lot of customers say that, so I'm a little worried (about the shortage)." Convenience store operator Lawson said it was expecting a shortage of Asahi products soon and it was making preparations to sell alternative products. FamilyMart and 7-Eleven also said they were affected. Asahi's shares have fallen about 4% to their lowest level since February after the company said it was attacked. (Reporting by Kentaro Okasaka, Joseph CampbellWriting and additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Mariko Katsumura, Kiyoshi Takenaka Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Mark Potter)

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By Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The much-needed modernization of the U.S. Army's battlefield communications network being undertaken by Anduril, Palantir and others is rife with "fundamental security" problems and vulnerabilities, and should be treated as a "very high risk," according to a recent internal Army memo. The two Silicon Valley companies, led by allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, have gained access to the Pentagon's lucrative flow of contracts on the promise of quickly providing less expensive and more sophisticated weapons than the Pentagon's longstanding arms providers.   But the September memo from the Army's chief technology officer about the NGC2 platform that connects soldiers, sensors, vehicles and commanders with real-time data paints a bleak picture of the initial product. "We cannot control who sees what, we cannot see what users are doing, and we cannot verify that the software itself is secure," the memo says. Palantir and Anduril did not comment for this story.  The assessment, seen by Reuters and first reported by Breaking Defense, comes just months after defense drone and software maker Anduril was awarded a $100 million to create a prototype of NGC2 with partners including Palantir, Microsoft and several smaller contractors. The Army should treat the NGC2 prototype version as “very high risk” because of the “likelihood of an adversary gaining persistent undetectable access," wrote Gabrielle Chiulli, the Army chief technology officer authorizing official. Despite the early September memo's scathing critique, Leonel Garciga, Army chief information officer and Chiulli's supervisor, said in a statement to Reuters that the report was part of a process that helped in "triaging cybersecurity vulnerabilities" and mitigating them. In March, the 4th Infantry Division used the system in live-fire artillery training at Fort Carson, Colorado, in an exercise Anduril described as demonstrating faster and more reliable performance than legacy systems. The Army memo identifies some major security gaps. The report says the system allows any authorized user to access all applications and data regardless of their clearance level or operational need. As a result, "Any user can potentially access and misuse sensitive" classified information, the memo states, with no logging to track their actions. Other deficiencies highlighted in the memo include the hosting of third-party applications that have not undergone Army security assessments. One application revealed 25 high-severity code vulnerabilities. Three additional applications under review each contain over 200 vulnerabilities requiring assessment, according to the document. (Reporting by Mike Stone; editing by Chris Sanders and Sergio Non)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Kentaro Okasaka and Joseph Campbell TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese restaurants, bars and stores are running low on beer and other beverages from industry leader Asahi Group as the impact from a cyberattack entered a fifth day on Friday, with no resolution in sight. Known for its Super Dry beer, Nikka Whisky as well as non-alcoholic beverages, Asahi suspended operations in Japan on Monday including order processing, shipping and call center functions after a cyberattack caused a system outage. The company began processing orders for some products on Wednesday by visiting customers in person and handwriting orders, it said. While it continues to take orders for food and soft drinks, it has not taken further orders for alcoholic beverages to prioritise outgoing shipments, which began on Friday for the first batch of manually filled orders, it said.Asahi said it continues to work with investigative authorities on the cyberattack. The breach is the latest in a string of cyber and ransomware attacks targeting global companies. In Britain, luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover was forced to shut down its factories last month, while Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group have also fallen victim to sophisticated breaches. On Friday in Tokyo, one eatery that normally only serves Asahi-branded beer said it was on its last keg of Asahi Super Dry, and that its supplier brought beer from rival Sapporo a day earlier, citing the shortage. "It's a bit of a problem," said Tomiko Yano, a chef at restaurant Kushiyaki Tosaka. "We specialise in yakitori (skewered chicken) and it pairs really well with Super Dry. A lot of customers say that, so I'm a little worried (about the shortage)." Convenience store operator Lawson said it was expecting a shortage of Asahi products soon and it was making preparations to sell alternative products. FamilyMart and 7-Eleven also said they were affected. Asahi's shares have fallen about 4% to their lowest level since February after the company said it was attacked. (Reporting by Kentaro Okasaka, Joseph CampbellWriting and additional reporting by Chang-Ran KimEditing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

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By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Apple said on Thursday that it had removed ICEBlock, the most popular ICE-tracking app, and other similar apps from its App Store after it was contacted by President Donald Trump's administration. The app alerts users to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area. ICE has been a central part of Trump's hardline immigration agenda and its agents have regularly raided and arrested migrants. The Justice Department says the app could increase the risk of assault on U.S. agents. "Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store," Apple said in an emailed statement. Since Trump took office, ICE has raided multiple facilities with immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. The agency has also arrested visa holders and permanent U.S. residents targeted by the Trump administration over pro-Palestinian advocacy. Rights advocates have raised concerns that rights to free speech and due process are often being infringed as the government pushes ahead with its deportation drive. Fox Business first reported the app's removal on Thursday, citing a statement by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi who said the Justice Department contacted Apple to pull the app on Thursday and that the company complied. "ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed," Bondi said in her statement to Fox Business. Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have previously warned Joshua Aaron, the Texas-based creator of ICEBlock, that he is "not protected" under the Constitution and that they are looking at prosecuting him. Apple's actions may also lead to further scrutiny over the warm ties that tech firms have tried to build with the Trump administration during his second term. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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By Blake Brittain (Reuters) -OpenAI asked a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it lured employees away from Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI to steal its trade secrets, calling the case part of Musk's "ongoing harassment" of the company. OpenAI denied xAI's allegations and said its claims were false and unsubstantiated. "Under Musk’s leadership, talented xAI employees are leaving in droves, and some are coming to OpenAI to help advance OpenAI’s mission," the filing said. "Those employees have every right to go where they choose, and OpenAI has the right to hire them." Spokespeople and an attorney for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filings. A spokesperson for OpenAI declined to comment.  xAI's lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in San Francisco, alleged that OpenAI engaged in a "deeply troubling pattern" of hiring away former xAI employees to gain access to trade secrets related to its AI chatbot Grok, which it said was more advanced than OpenAI's ChatGPT. The lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, amid a high-stakes race in Silicon Valley for talent and to gain market share in the burgeoning AI industry.  xAI has separately sued Apple for allegedly conspiring with OpenAI to suppress rival platforms. Apple and OpenAI denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss that case on Tuesday. Musk is also suing OpenAI over its conversion to a for-profit company, while OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment. OpenAI on Thursday called xAI's trade-secret lawsuit an attempt to intimidate OpenAI and "distract from the failures of [Musk's] own competitive AI effort." "The truth is that xAI is hemorrhaging talent to other competitors, including OpenAI," OpenAI said. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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By Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Three cabinet colleagues of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are promoting use of apps by domestic rivals to Google Maps, WhatsApp and Microsoft, in the strongest backing yet for "Made in India" products amid trade tension with the United States. After the United States imposed a 50% tariff on Indian imports in August, Modi has pushed for use of "swadeshi" products, or those made in India. While many industry executives have made public calls to support Indian products, Modi made a direct appeal last month for Indians to scrap daily use of foreign goods. Information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw gave a media presentation on highway projects this week he said was put together employing Zoho, a domestic rival to Microsoft's PowerPoint, and without use of Google Maps. "The map is from MapmyIndia, not Google Maps," the minister said with a smile, referring to an Indian provider. "It's looking nice, right? Swadeshi." Last week, Vaishnaw made a video clip testing Zoho software and asked people to adopt indigenous products in a post on X that drew 6.2 million views. ASPIRATIONAL UPGRADE American brands are everywhere in India, and they are seen as an aspirational upgrade by millions. While government and private offices use Microsoft products, many travellers rely on Google Maps to find their way about, and WhatsApp counts India as its biggest market, with more than 500 million users. The three U.S. companies did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Zoho offers cheaper alternatives to cloud-based software tools made by Microsoft. The Indian firm's billionaire co-founder, Sridhar Vembu, is famed for an unconventional approach of locating business operations in rural villages. The firm's messaging app, Arattai, or "chat" in India's southern Tamil language, has gained sudden popularity, thanks to the efforts of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. "So proud to be on @Arattai, a #MadeInIndia messaging platform that brings India closer," Goyal said in an X post this week. There were more than 400,000 downloads of the app last month, compared to fewer than 10,000 in August, data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shows. Its daily active users crossed 100,000 on September 26, an increase of 100% on the day. TOUGH TO REPLACE GLOBAL BRANDS Indian companies find it difficult to replace global brands, since they often cannot match their financial clout and reach. In 2021, Indian ministers promoted X-like social media platform Koo amid compliance-related disagreements with the American platform. But the Indian company shut last year for lack of funding. "Only state patronage will not be enough," warned Dilip Cherian, a co-founder of Indian public relations firm Perfect Relations. "What brands like Zoho need to succeed is a unique differentiating factor, deep pockets and strong protection against survelliance." (Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Clarence Fernandez)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Kentaro Okasaka and Joseph Campbell TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese restaurants, bars and stores are running low on beer and other beverages from industry leader Asahi Group as the impact from a cyberattack entered a fifth day on Friday, with no resolution in sight. Known for its Super Dry beer, Nikka Whisky as well as non-alcoholic beverages, Asahi suspended operations in Japan on Monday including order processing, shipping and call center functions after a cyberattack caused a system outage. The company began processing orders for some products on Wednesday by visiting customers in person and handwriting orders, it said. While it continues to take orders for food and soft drinks, it has not taken further orders for alcoholic beverages to prioritise outgoing shipments, which began on Friday for the first batch of manually filled orders, it said.Asahi said it continues to work with investigative authorities on the cyberattack. The breach is the latest in a string of cyber and ransomware attacks targeting global companies. In Britain, luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover was forced to shut down its factories last month, while Marks & Spencer and the Co-op Group have also fallen victim to sophisticated breaches. On Friday in Tokyo, one eatery that normally only serves Asahi-branded beer said it was on its last keg of Asahi Super Dry, and that its supplier brought beer from rival Sapporo a day earlier, citing the shortage. "It's a bit of a problem," said Tomiko Yano, a chef at restaurant Kushiyaki Tosaka. "We specialise in yakitori (skewered chicken) and it pairs really well with Super Dry. A lot of customers say that, so I'm a little worried (about the shortage)." Convenience store operator Lawson said it was expecting a shortage of Asahi products soon and it was making preparations to sell alternative products. FamilyMart and 7-Eleven also said they were affected. Asahi's shares have fallen about 4% to their lowest level since February after the company said it was attacked. (Reporting by Kentaro Okasaka, Joseph CampbellWriting and additional reporting by Chang-Ran KimEditing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Yantoultra Ngui SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Artificial intelligence startups are attracting record sums of venture capital, but some of the world's largest investors warned that early-stage valuations are starting to look frothy, senior investment executives said on Friday. "There's a little bit of a hype bubble going on in the early-stage venture space," said Bryan Yeo, group chief investment officer at Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, as part of a panel discussion at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2025 in Singapore. "Any company startup with an AI label will be valued right up there at huge multiples of whatever the small revenue (is)," he said. "That might be fair for some companies and probably not for others." In the first quarter of 2025, AI startups raised $73.1 billion globally, accounting for 57.9% of all venture capital funding, according to PitchBook. The surge was driven by funding rounds like OpenAI's $40 billion capital raising, as investors raced to catch the AI wave. "Market expectations could be way ahead of what the technology could deliver," Yeo said. "We're seeing a major AI capex boom today. It is masking some of the potential weaknesses that might be going on in the economy." Todd Sisitsky, president of alternative asset manager TPG, said the fear of missing out is dangerous for investors, though he added that views were divided on whether the AI sector had formed a bubble. Some AI firms are hitting $100 million in revenue within months, he said, while others in early-stage ventures command valuations at between $400 million and $1.2 billion per employee. He said that was "breathtaking." (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus.)

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