Scarlett Johansson Says OpenAI Copied Her Voice
The American star said that Altman approached her twice and asked to use her voice, but she declined.
Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson expressed her shock and anger after OpenAI launched a chatbot featuring a voice that bears an "eerily similar" resemblance to her own.[1]
Johansson revealed she had previously declined an offer from OpenAI to voice its new chatbot, which reads text aloud to users. Following the debut of the new model last week, commentators quickly noted the similarities between the chatbot's "Sky" voice and Johansson's portrayal of Samantha in the 2013 film "Her."
GPT-4o is available to all, including unpaid users.
OpenAI announced it would remove the voice but insisted that it was not intended to mimic Johansson's. However, Johansson accused the company and its founder, Sam Altman, of deliberately copying her voice.
Johansson highlighted, in a statement seen by the BBC, that Altman had even insinuated the similarity was intentional, tweeting "her"—a reference to the film in which she voices an AI operating system that develops an intimate relationship with a human.
Johansson, a two-time Academy Award nominee, said she was initially approached by Altman in September. He suggested that her involvement could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help ease consumers into the evolving relationship between humans and AI. Johansson eventually declined the offer for personal reasons.
Two days before the Sky chatbot's release, Altman contacted Johansson's agent, urging her to reconsider her decision. Johansson revealed she had since hired lawyers and sent two legal letters to OpenAI to understand how the voice was created.
In response, Altman denied any intention to imitate Johansson's voice.
OpenAI also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it is "working to pause" the voice while addressing questions about its selection. The company said in a blog post that the five voices used by its chatbot were sampled from voice actors it had partnered with.[2]
We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 20, 2024
Read more about how we chose these voices: https://t.co/R8wwZjU36L
