Actress Scarlett Johansson is threatening Sam Altman and his company OpenAI with legal action, alleging they copied her voice for ChatGPT without her permission.
Johansson, who was the voice of the artificial intelligence assistant in the 2013 science fiction movie “Her,” said ChatGPT’s “Sky” voice is so eerily similar to hers that her closest friends could not tell the difference.
In a statement provided to USA TODAY, Johansson said Altman asked her to be the voice of his AI system and, when she turned him down, he copied her voice anyway.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When OpenAI released a demo of its latest ChatGPT model last week, it included “Voice Mode,” with an emotive AI answering questions. One of those voices was “Sky.”
“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. “Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘her’ – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.”
OpenAI said it is “pausing” the use of the Sky voice to address questions about how it chose the ChatGPT voices.
A Sunday blog post from the artificial intelligence company says Sky’s voice “is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” and that the company “carefully selected” each of the voices over the course of a five-month process.
Johansson said her legal counsel wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI asking them to “detail the exact process by which they created the ‘Sky’ voice.
“Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the ‘Sky’ voice,” she said.
The news was first reported by NPR.
Johansson, a star in the Marvel universe, has challenged business behemoths before. In 2021, she settled a breach of contract lawsuit she brought against the studio over her payout for “Black Widow.”
This is Johansson‘s full statement:
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.
After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named “Sky” sounded like me.
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. Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word “her” – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.
Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.
As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the “Sky” voice. Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the “Sky” voice.
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. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
