Scarlett Johansson has expressed her shock and anger over OpenAI’s use of a voice for their GPT-4o chatbot that she claims is “eerily similar” to hers. Johansson, who famously voiced an AI companion in Spike Jonze’s 2013 film “Her,” said she had turned down OpenAI’s request to use her voice for the new system.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman approached Scarlett Johansson to voice their new ChatGPT system. Altman proposed that her voice could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives.
Scarlett Johansson declined the offer citing personal reasons for her decision. Despite her refusal, OpenAI proceeded to develop the voice feature.
OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT-4o featuring a voice option named “Sky.” The voice quickly drew comparisons to Johansson’s portrayal of an AI assistant in the 2013 film “Her.”
Scarlett Johansson’s friends, family, and the media noted the resemblance between “Sky” and Johansson’s voice. The comparison was so strong that it led to belief that the voice was intentionally modeled after her.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, tweeted “her” following the product demonstration, a reference to Johansson’s character in “Her.” Media outlets criticized the voice.
Colin Jost, Johansson’s husband and a Saturday Night Live cast member, and Desi Lydic, host of The Daily Show, both commented on the voice’s similarity to Johansson and its overly gendered and fawning nature.
Commentators and industry professionals questioned why the voice seemed so feminine and flirtatious.
Scarlett Johansson’s legal team contacted OpenAI, sending two letters demanding clarity on how the voice was created. They requested that the voice be removed from the product.
OpenAI released a statement claiming that “Sky” was not intended to imitate Johansson and was performed by a different professional actress.
OpenAI announced it would pause the use of the “Sky” voice. The company insisted the voice had been selected through a review process of hundreds of submissions and the chosen voice actors had been flown to San Francisco for recording sessions.
Major entertainment unions including Sag-Aftra have gone on strike over AI-related issues such as the unauthorized use of likenesses. Authors like George R. R. Martin and John Grisham have also filed lawsuits against AI companies for copyright infringement.
Members of OpenAI’s safety team resigned citing a shift in focus from safety to product innovation. Former safety team lead Jan Leike criticized the company for prioritizing “shiny products” over robust safety protocols.
Scarlett Johansson issued a statement expressing her shock and anger at hearing the voice. She recounted Altman’s initial approach and his attempt to get her to reconsider just two days before the voice’s release.
OpenAI defended its process claiming the voice actors were chosen based on specific criteria meant to ensure a timeless, trustworthy, and approachable voice.
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The company reiterated its stance that the “Sky” voice was not an imitation. OpenAI maintained that the voice was selected and recorded before any outreach to Johansson.
The company apologized for the confusion and agreed to suspend the voice out of respect for Scarlett Johansson.
The advancement of voice imitation technology has raised concerns about disinformation and the protection of personal likenesses.
Instances of AI-generated voices being used in political disinformation campaigns and fraudulent advertisements have heightened these fears.
OpenAI faces several lawsuits over its use of copyrighted material to train its AI models. Cases include those from The New York Times and authors like George R. R. Martin, who allege that their works were used without permission.
In a statement provided to Variety, Scarlett Johansson explained that she had been contacted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in September 2023 with an offer to provide her voice for ChatGPT 4.0.
After declining the offer for personal reasons, she was surprised to hear a voice almost indistinguishable from hers in the demo of the new GPT-4o chatbot named Sky. Johansson’s lawyers contacted OpenAI, demanding the voice be pulled down.
Scarlett Johansson said, “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.”
OpenAI’s statement, “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice, Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.”
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Sam Altman apologized, stating, “The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. 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.”
Over the past year OpenAI has faced lawsuits for copyright violations from authors, actors, and newspapers, including the Authors Guild of America and The New York Times.
Scarlett Johansson’s situation mirrors her previous legal battle with Disney in 2021, where she accused the company of breaching her contract over the simultaneous release of “Black Widow” in theaters and on Disney+. That case ended in a settlement.
The AI can engage in back-and-forth conversations, juggle audio, images, and video, and even detect emotional states from user selfies.
Initially available to paid subscribers, OpenAI announced plans to make the voice mode free for all users with the mobile app in November 2023.
The five voices (Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper, and Sky) were recorded in San Francisco last summer developed with unidentified directors and producers.
A show made a joke about the Johansson-soundalike ChatGPT voice during its season finale, referencing her husband Colin Jost’s lack of interest in watching “Her.”
Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic, noted the voice’s similarity to Johansson’s tone and vocal fry. Desi Lydic critiqued the gendered approach in AI voice development.
The new model which stands for “omni,” is designed to reason across text, audio, and video in real-time, with emotional detection and language translation capabilities.
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