Scarlett Johansson has threatened to sue Sam Altman and his business OpenAI, claiming that they stole her voice for ChatGPT without her consent. Johansson, who portrayed the voice of the AI assistant in the science fiction film "Her" (2013), said that her closest friends were unable to distinguish ChatGPT's "Sky" voice from her own. Johansson said in a statement that Altman wanted her to be the voice of his AI system and that, in spite of her refusal, he nevertheless used a copy of her voice. Additionally, she said that Altman even tried to sign Johansson again.
“Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider,” she wrote in the statement that was released yesterday. “Before we could connect, the system was out there.” Altman refuted Johansson's voice being used without her consent. OpenAI stated that it strives to stop its artificial voices from mimicking those of actual people. Additionally, the company says it supports more robust safeguards against deepfakes.
Scarlett Johansson Is Preparing For Legal Action
Scarlett Johansson is prepared to take legal action against the AI company. "The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," Altman said in a statement late Monday. "We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t communicate better." Last week, OpenAI unveiled a demo of their most recent ChatGPT model. It featured "Voice Mode," in which an expressive AI responded to inquiries. Among the voices was "Sky."
To answer concerns over the selection process for the ChatGPT voices, OpenAI announced that it is "pausing" the usage of the Sky voice. Johansson said that two letters were sent by her legal representative to Altman and OpenAI. They requested that they explain the precise procedure by which they developed the 'Sky' voice. Additionally, the dispute with Johansson arises at a difficult moment for OpenAI. The company is being sued by writers, artists, and media businesses for allegedly utilizing their works without permission or payment. Overall, Scarlett is not going to let AI use her voice without her consent.
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