Actress Scarlett Johansson has accused artificial intelligence company OpenAI of using her voice without her consent for their new ChatGPT 4o chatbot. In a statement to NPR, Johansson detailed her experience with the tech giant and its latest AI voice chatbot, “Sky.” Johansson declined OpenAI’s request to use her voice for the chatbot nine months ago, but was taken aback when she and those close to her noted the striking similarity between her voice and the voice of the newly released “Sky” AI system. “When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson said in her statement. The situation escalated when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted a cryptic reference to her role in the film Her, in which she voiced an AI named Samantha. Johansson revealed that just two days before the demo was released, Altman contacted her agent, asking her to reconsider. The timing, she said, was too close to the release to change anything. Consequently, she sought legal counsel, who sent letters to Altman and OpenAI, demanding transparency and the removal of the “Sky” voice. OpenAI has since agreed to take down the “Sky” voice. “Because of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr Altman and OpenAI, describing what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the ‘Sky’ voice,” Johansson explained. The pressure led OpenAI to agree to take down the “Sky” voice reluctantly. Johansson’s statement highlights the broader issues at play in the era of deepfakes and AI. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” she stated. “I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.
Scarlett Johansson Claims OpenAI Used Her Voice Without Consent for ChatGPT 4
