Scarlett Johansson accuses OpenAI of stealing her voice

American actor Scarlett Johansson said she was shocked, angered, and in disbelief OpenAI CEO Sam Altman would use a voice mirroring hers for ChatGPT. Altman had insinuated the similiarity was intentional, tweeting the word her — a reference to the movie where she voiced 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,” said Johansson in a Monday statement. “Before we could connect, the system was out there.”.In September, Johansson said she received an offer from Altman, who wanted to hire her to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 system. He said he felt her voicing it could bridge the gap between technology companies and creatives and help people feel comfortable with the shift concerning humans and artificial intelligence. After much consideration and for personal reasons, she declined the offer. Nine months later, her family, friends, and the public noted how ChatGPT voice Sky sounded like her. Because of these actions, she said she was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI to set out what they had done and asked them to detail how they created Sky. However, OpenAI agreed to take down Sky. In a time when people are grappling with deepfakes and protection of their own likeness, work, and identities, Johansson said these “are questions that deserve absolute clarity.” “I look forward to a resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected,” she said. OpenAI said it supports the creative community and worked with the voice acting industry to ensure it took the right steps to cast ChatGPT’s voices. “Each actor receives compensation above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products,” said OpenAI. “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.” To protect this actor’s privacy, it vowed not to share her name. In 2023, it partnered with casting directors and producers to identify its voice actors.