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(Reuters) -Tesla has raised lease prices for all its vehicles in the U.S. after a $7,500 federal tax credit that helped boost electric vehicle sales expired, according to the company's website on Wednesday. The change follows the end of tax incentives under sweeping legislation passed by Congress, which eliminated the $7,500 credit for new EV leases and purchases, as well as a $4,000 credit for used EVs, effective September 30. Tesla and its rivals had been passing these credits on to customers through competitive lease offers. The monthly lease of the electric vehicle manufacturer's best-selling Model Y increased to a range between $529 and $599, from a range of $479 to $529. Prices of all vehicles, however, remain unchanged. Model 3 lease prices touched a range of $429 to $759 per month, from a range of $349 to $699. Demand for battery-powered models is already showing signs of a slowdown after rapid growth earlier in the decade. Sales could drop after the credits dry up, auto executives and analysts have warned. Reuters reported last month that Tesla's U.S. market share dropped to a near eight-year low in August, as buyers chose electric vehicles from a growing stable of rivals, according to data from research firm Cox Automotive. Tesla, which once held more than 80% of the EV market in the United States, accounted for only 38% of the country's total EV sales in August, according to early data from Cox. (Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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(Reuters) -Apple and ChatGPT owner OpenAI on Tuesday asked a U.S. federal judge to dismiss a case filed by billionaire Elon Musk's xAI, which had accused them of illegally conspiring to thwart competition in the field of artificial intelligence. (Reporting by Shubham Kalia in BengaluruEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

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(Reuters) -Tesla has raised lease prices for all its vehicles in the U.S. after a $7,500 federal tax credit that helped boost electric vehicle sales expired, according to the company's website on Wednesday. The change follows the end of tax incentives under sweeping legislation passed by Congress, which eliminated the $7,500 credit for new EV leases and purchases, as well as a $4,000 credit for used EVs, effective September 30. Tesla, along with its rivals, was receiving the tax credit from the U.S. government and including them in offering attractive lease prices for customers. The monthly lease of the firm's best-selling Model Y increased to about $599 at the top range from $529. Prices of all vehicles, however, remain unchanged. Demand for battery-powered models is already showing signs of a slowdown after rapid growth earlier in the decade. Sales could drop after the credits dry up, auto executives and analysts have warned. (Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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

(Reuters) -Tesla has raised lease prices for all its vehicles in the U.S. after a $7,500 tax credit that boosted EV sales expired, according to its website on Wednesday. The EV maker, along with its rivals, was receiving the tax credit from the government and including them in offering attractive lease prices for customers. (Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, plans to launch a debit card that would "bridge crypto assets with everyday spending", its CEO Zach Witkoff told a conference on Wednesday. "We are definitely rolling out a debit card that'll bridge … crypto assets with everyday spending," he said. "We'll be rolling out a pilot program here in the next quarter and that debit card will either be live Q4 or Q1'26." Witkoff was speaking on a panel at the TOKEN2049 crypto conference in Singapore alongside World Liberty's co-founder Donald Trump Jr. World Liberty Financial is "actively thinking" about tokenising assets like real estate and oil and gas, Witkoff also said. The World Liberty tokens, known as $WLFI, launched at the start of the month. "Commodities are (a) really interesting area for us, whether it be oil, gas, even things like cotton, timber – all of those things frankly should be traded on chain. It's a lot more efficient," Witkoff said. World Liberty, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said in March it would launch USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents. (Reporting by Rae Wee and Xinghui Kok in Singapore; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sam Holmes)

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

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, plans to launch a debit card that would "bridge crypto assets with everyday spending", its CEO Zach Witkoff told a conference on Wednesday. "We are definitely rolling out a debit card that'll bridge … crypto assets with everyday spending," he said. "We'll be rolling out a pilot program here in the next quarter and that debit card will either be live Q4 or Q1'26." Witkoff was speaking on a panel at the TOKEN2049 crypto conference in Singapore alongside World Liberty's co-founder Donald Trump Jr. World Liberty Financial is "actively thinking" about tokenising assets like real estate and oil and gas, Witkoff also said. The World Liberty tokens, known as $WLFI, launched at the start of the month. "Commodities are (a) really interesting area for us, whether it be oil, gas, even things like cotton, timber – all of those things frankly should be traded on chain. It's a lot more efficient," Witkoff said. World Liberty, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said in March it would launch USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents. (Reporting by Rae Wee and Xinghui Kok in Singapore; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sam Holmes)

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By Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -In India, Bollywood stars are asking judges to protect their voice and persona in the era of artificial intelligence. One famous couple's biggest target is Google's video arm YouTube. Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic Cannes Film Festival red carpet appearances, have asked a judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. But in a more far-reaching request, they also want Google ordered to have safeguards to ensure such YouTube videos uploaded anyway do not train other AI platforms, legal papers reviewed by Reuters show. A handful of Bollywood celebrities have begun asserting their "personality rights" in Indian courts over the last few years, as the country has no explicit protection for those like in many U.S. states. But the Bachchans' lawsuits are the most high-profile to date about the interplay of personality rights and the risk that misleading or deepfake YouTube videos could train other AI models. The actors argue that YouTube's content and third-party training policy is concerning as it lets users consent to sharing of a video they created to train rival AI models, risking further proliferation of misleading content online, according to near-identical filings from Abhishek and Aishwarya dated September 6, which are not public. "Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infringing content i.e. first being uploaded on YouTube being viewed by the public, and then also being used to train," the filings said. Representatives for the Bachchans and Google spokespersons did not respond to Reuters' queries. The Delhi High Court last month asked Google's lawyer in court to submit written responses before the next hearing on January 15. YouTube's India managing director, Gunjan Soni, last month described the platform as "the new TV for India". With around 600 million users, India is YouTube's biggest market globally, and it is popular for entertainment content like Bollywood videos. LAWSUIT ALLEGES YOUTUBE VIDEOS ARE 'EGREGIOUS' Indian courts have already started to back Bollywood stars upset about generative AI content damaging their reputation. In 2023, a Delhi court restrained the misuse of Anil Kapoor's image, voice and even a catchphrase he often used. Reuters is first to report details of the Bachchans' specific challenge against Google, which was contained in court filings spanning 1,500 pages where they mostly target little-known sellers for unauthorised physical merchandise like posters, coffee mugs and stickers with their photos, and even fake autographed pictures. They are also seeking $450,000 in damages against Google and others, and a permanent injunction against such exploitation. The lawsuits contain hundreds of links and screenshots of what they allege are YouTube videos showing "egregious", "sexually explicit" or "fictitious" AI content. The judge in early September ordered 518 website links and posts specifically listed by the actors to be taken down, saying they caused financial harm to the couple and harmed their dignity and goodwill. Reuters, however, found videos similar to the examples of infringing videos cited in Abhishek's papers on YouTube. Among them: a clip showing Abhishek posing but then suddenly kissing a film actress using AI manipulation; an AI depiction of Aishwarya and her co-star Salman Khan enjoying a meal together while Abhishek fumes standing behind; and a crocodile chasing Abhishek as Khan tries to save him. Khan was in a relationship with Aishwarya long before her marriage. His spokesperson did not respond to Reuters' queries. AI CAN GENERATE BOLLYWOOD LOVE STORIES YouTube's data-sharing policy states creators can opt in to share their videos for training models of other AI platforms, like OpenAI, Meta and xAI. YouTube adds: "We can't control what a third-party company does" if users share videos for such training. The Bachchans argue in their filings that if AI platforms are trained on biased content that portrays them in a negative manner and infringes their intellectual property rights, then AI models "are likely to learn all such untrue" information, leading to its further spread. Eashan Ghosh, chair professor for intellectual property rights at the National Law University Delhi, said it would be difficult for actors to build a direct case against YouTube since their grievances are mostly with creators and personality rights infringement. But "it wouldn't be beyond the pale for the court to nudge YouTube to write something into their user policies or set up a queue jump for celebrity claimants to get quicker responses to legal requests," he said. YouTube in May disclosed that it had paid more than $2.4 billion to Indian creators in the last three years. The actors alleged that creators infringing their personality rights can make money when videos become popular. Reuters found a channel on YouTube titled "AI Bollywood Ishq" that shares "AI-generated Bollywood love stories". Its 259 videos have garnered 16.5 million views. The most popular video with 4.1 million views shows an AI animation of Khan and Aishwarya in a pool, while another shows them on a swing. In a tutorial, the channel explains it used simple text prompts to create an image via X's Grok AI and then turned it into a video using Chinese AI startup MiniMax's Hailuo AI. A Reuters test generated an AI video showing lookalikes of Bollywood stars Khan and Abhishek in a fistfight within five minutes. Grok, MiniMax and the owner of YouTube channel @AIbollywoodishq did not respond to Reuters' queries. It was unclear whether the YouTube channel consented to sharing those videos for AI training. "Content is made only for entertainment and creative storytelling," the channel's page said. (Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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By Milana Vinn, Federico Maccioni and Zaheer Kachwala LONDON(Reuters) -For years, tech-focused buyout group Silver Lake coveted video game developer Electronic Arts, the power behind the popular "Battlefield" and "Madden NFL" series. In a brainstorming session this spring, Silver Lake investors and U.S. President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner started hammering out plans for what became the world's largest leveraged buyout, three sources familiar with the talks said. One of the people said the talks started between Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban and Kushner. Backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the $55 billion deal announced on Monday will enlarge Silver Lake's games, sports and entertainment portfolio while giving the sovereign wealth fund an asset it may want to hold on to for a long time, the sources said. EA was first approached in the summer, the people said. PIF will end up as EA's majority shareholder while Kushner's private equity fund Affinity Partners will own 5%, one of the people said. Given that PIF already owned almost 10% of EA before the deal, according to LSEG data, and had gaming investments, it made sense for Silver Lake to look at the fund as a natural partner, the person added, noting that Kushner played an important role in brokering it. Kushner, a top aide to Trump during his father-in-law's first term in the White House, founded Affinity in 2021 and has investments from funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He said in Monday's announcement that he grew up playing EA games and enjoys playing them with his children. Durban added that EA was special and said the consortium will invest heavily to grow the business worldwide and accelerate innovation. EA and a spokesperson for the consortium declined to comment. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has said he enjoys unwinding by playing video games with friends and his children, has laid out his ambition for his country to be the "global hub for games and esports" by 2030. "Every year we have a 15% to 25% profit so it's really amazing and we do not want to miss that," the Prince said in a Fox News interview two years ago, referring to PIF's annual return on investments in professional video game competitions called esports, in which players or teams vie for prize money. "This isn't just a spreadsheet deal. It's Saudi Arabia buying time, talent, and cultural clout in one shot," said Joost van Dreunen, games professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "It puts a trophy IP house at the tip of the Saudi Vision 2030 spear, backed by a government that has earmarked $38 billion for games and sees interactive entertainment as both soft power and long-run monetization." As part of that goal, the almost $1 trillion Public Investment Fund has made major outlays in video game publishers in recent years through its Savvy Games Group. The investments, including a stake in "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard and holdings of about 4% in Nintendo and about 6% in Take-Two Interactive, are part of the kingdom's Saudi Vision 2030 plan to diversify away from oil by pouring billions into other sectors. EA's well-known franchises and brands, as well as the chance for PIF to bring game-developing capabilities to the kingdom, helped convince the fund to double down on its investment, one of the people said. Saudi's esports foundation has announced a new tournament for national teams next year, with EA as a partner. Qiddiya, one of PIF's infrastructure giga-projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aims to attract 10 million visitors per year to its esports and gaming district by 2030, the wealth fund said this year. Branded as the 'city of play', Qiddiya is focused on entertainment and tourism, with the goal of incubating 30 leading video game development companies. The consortium is investing $36 billion in the EA buyout, including PIF's existing stake, supported by $20 billion in debt financed by JPMorgan, EA said Monday. The financing was possible due to a dearth of deals for investors in leveraged loans, as private equity firms have largely stayed on the sidelines in recent years, one of the sources and a fourth person with knowledge of the deal said. EA shareholders will receive $210 per share in cash, a 25% premium over the stock's closing price on September 25 before reports of a deal emerged. Some analysts consider that as too little. "The true earnings power of EA is only beginning to emerge," Benchmark analysts said. EA stock was trading near all-time highs, according to LSEG data. While the merger agreement allows 45 days for a superior bid to emerge, Van Dreunen saw that as unlikely to happen. "Matching it would require deep pockets and a high tolerance for scrutiny. A strategic bidder would face antitrust and cultural blowback, while private equity would struggle to pencil the leverage," he said. The deal will require regulatory approvals but is unlikely to face headwinds, some analysts said. "Given today's broadly constructive Western-Saudi ties, the consortium is more likely to face "box-ticking" reviews and a few raised eyebrows than outright resistance, as implied by the Q2 2026 expected closing date," said David O'Hara, of MKP advisors in a note published on Monday.  (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York, Federico Maccioni in Dubai and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Writing by Anousha Sakoui; Editing by Richard Chang)

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(Adds dropped first names in 15th paragraph) By Jaspreet Singh and Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters) -Spotify founder-CEO Daniel Ek will step down to become executive chairman in January, the Swedish streaming company said on Tuesday as it adopts a new co-CEO structure in its strategy to fend off rivals and shore up its profit margin. Billionaire Ek, who built Spotify into a rare global consumer technology leader from the region, will step back from day-to-day business as the company charts out its plan to keep ahead of music offering from YouTube, Apple and Amazon. "Ek leaves the CEO role on a high note, with big boots to fill for the incoming CEOs," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. The U.S. shares of Spotify were down about 5% after gaining 63% this year. Ek, a prominent tech entrepreneur of Europe, will focus on capital allocation and long-term strategy as executive chairman in what the company called a European-style role. "I will be more involved than a typical US chairman. So think of it a little bit like moving from a player to a coach," said Ek, who has been on the company's board since 2008. Spotify remains the clear market leader with nearly 700 million monthly users and more than 100 million tracks, far ahead of Apple Music's roughly 90 million subscribers.  But it faces competition from YouTube Music's vast video-integrated catalog and Amazon Music's Prime-linked offerings, which give rivals distinct advantages in certain markets. Despite Spotify's dominance, pressure on profit margins have persisted as artists push for higher payouts and the ad-supported tier expands. Global revenue from recorded music rose 4.8% to $29.6 billion in 2024. Streaming exceeded $20 billion for the first time and subscription streaming accounted for more than half of it, according to IFPI's Global Music Report. FROM STARTUP TO GIANT Founded in 2006, Stockholm-based Spotify helped transform a music industry that had been shrinking for years due to piracy and falling CD sales. Its U.S. debut in 2011 came as industry revenue had slumped. Still, the company reported its first annual profit only in 2024, after a slew of price increases and cost-cutting efforts. Billionaire Ek is often cited as a champion of Europe's ability to produce companies that can compete with U.S. and Asian tech giants. Gustav Soderstrom, currently chief product and technology officer, oversees global tech strategy and product development, while Alex Norstrom, as chief business officer, manages subscriber and advertising businesses along with music, podcast and audiobook operations. They will report to Ek who also serves on the board. The three executives have worked together for a decade and a half. "Norstrom is deeply interested in knowledge about product, and I'm very interested in business," Soderstrom said. "So we run this as a single team. Several high-profile firms such as Oracle and Netflix have adopted a co-CEO model to better manage their operations as they become more complex and globally diversified. The co-CEO model, which has become popular, has also drawn skepticism for creating blurred lines of authority. "The big unknown is why Spotify needs an executive chairman and two chief executives as that conjures up the idea that too many cooks spoil the broth," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Jaspreet Singh and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

(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 Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -In India, Bollywood stars are asking judges to protect their voice and persona in the era of artificial intelligence. One famous couple's biggest target is Google's video arm YouTube. Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic Cannes Film Festival red carpet appearances, have asked a judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. But in a more far-reaching request, they also want Google ordered to have safeguards to ensure such YouTube videos uploaded anyway do not train other AI platforms, legal papers reviewed by Reuters show. A handful of Bollywood celebrities have begun asserting their "personality rights" in Indian courts over the last few years, as the country has no explicit protection for those like in many U.S. states. But the Bachchans' lawsuits are the most high-profile to date about the interplay of personality rights and the risk that misleading or deepfake YouTube videos could train other AI models. The actors argue that YouTube's content and third-party training policy is concerning as it lets users consent to sharing of a video they created to train rival AI models, risking further proliferation of misleading content online, according to near-identical filings from Abhishek and Aishwarya dated September 6, which are not public. "Such content being used to train AI models has the potential to multiply the instances of use of any infringing content i.e. first being uploaded on YouTube being viewed by the public, and then also being used to train," the filings said. Representatives for the Bachchans and Google spokespersons did not respond to Reuters' queries. The Delhi High Court last month asked Google's lawyer in court to submit written responses before the next hearing on January 15. YouTube's India managing director, Gunjan Soni, last month described the platform as "the new TV for India". With around 600 million users, India is YouTube's biggest market globally, and it is popular for entertainment content like Bollywood videos. LAWSUIT ALLEGES YOUTUBE VIDEOS ARE 'EGREGIOUS' Indian courts have already started to back Bollywood stars upset about generative AI content damaging their reputation. In 2023, a Delhi court restrained the misuse of Anil Kapoor's image, voice and even a catchphrase he often used. Reuters is first to report details of the Bachchans' specific challenge against Google, which was contained in court filings spanning 1,500 pages where they mostly target little-known sellers for unauthorised physical merchandise like posters, coffee mugs and stickers with their photos, and even fake autographed pictures. They are also seeking $450,000 in damages against Google and others, and a permanent injunction against such exploitation. The lawsuits contain hundreds of links and screenshots of what they allege are YouTube videos showing "egregious", "sexually explicit" or "fictitious" AI content. The judge in early September ordered 518 website links and posts specifically listed by the actors to be taken down, saying they caused financial harm to the couple and harmed their dignity and goodwill. Reuters, however, found videos similar to the examples of infringing videos cited in Abhishek's papers on YouTube. Among them: a clip showing Abhishek posing but then suddenly kissing a film actress using AI manipulation; an AI depiction of Aishwarya and her co-star Salman Khan enjoying a meal together while Abhishek fumes standing behind; and a crocodile chasing Abhishek as Khan tries to save him. Khan was in a relationship with Aishwarya long before her marriage. His spokesperson did not respond to Reuters' queries. AI CAN GENERATE BOLLYWOOD LOVE STORIES YouTube's data-sharing policy states creators can opt in to share their videos for training models of other AI platforms, like OpenAI, Meta and xAI. YouTube adds: "We can't control what a third-party company does" if users share videos for such training. The Bachchans argue in their filings that if AI platforms are trained on biased content that portrays them in a negative manner and infringes their intellectual property rights, then AI models "are likely to learn all such untrue" information, leading to its further spread. Eashan Ghosh, chair professor for intellectual property rights at the National Law University Delhi, said it would be difficult for actors to build a direct case against YouTube since their grievances are mostly with creators and personality rights infringement. But "it wouldn't be beyond the pale for the court to nudge YouTube to write something into their user policies or set up a queue jump for celebrity claimants to get quicker responses to legal requests," he said. YouTube in May disclosed that it had paid more than $2.4 billion to Indian creators in the last three years. The actors alleged that creators infringing their personality rights can make money when videos become popular. Reuters found a channel on YouTube titled "AI Bollywood Ishq" that shares "AI-generated Bollywood love stories". Its 259 videos have garnered 16.5 million views. The most popular video with 4.1 million views shows an AI animation of Khan and Aishwarya in a pool, while another shows them on a swing. In a tutorial, the channel explains it used simple text prompts to create an image via X's Grok AI and then turned it into a video using Chinese AI startup MiniMax's Hailuo AI. A Reuters test generated an AI video showing lookalikes of Bollywood stars Khan and Abhishek in a fistfight within five minutes. Grok, MiniMax and the owner of YouTube channel @AIbollywoodishq did not respond to Reuters' queries. It was unclear whether the YouTube channel consented to sharing those videos for AI training. "Content is made only for entertainment and creative storytelling," the channel's page said. (Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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