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.