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Scarlett Johansson hit out at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after the bogus intelligence startup programmed its chatbot with an “eerily similar” voice to the actor's voice without her permission.
“When I heard the released demo, I used to be shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily much like mine,” Johansson wrote in a press release published by NPR on Monday.
However, Altman said in a press release Tuesday that Sky's voice was not Johansson's and was “never intended to resemble hers.”
“We chosen the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before turning to Ms. Johansson,” Altman said. “Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we now have stopped using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry, Ms. Johansson, that we didn’t communicate higher.”
Johansson said Altman tried to rent her as a spokesperson for his company's flagship tool, ChatGPT, last September. An updated version of the chatbot released last week can converse in real time and reply to written or spoken prompts.
A dispute with the Hollywood star is adding to Altman's concerns as scrutiny of the $86 billion start-up intensifies. OpenAI has set the pace amongst AI startups and massive tech corporations like Google and Microsoft by developing cutting-edge tools able to generating responses to a wide range of human input using audio, text or images.
The company has concluded licensing agreements with corporations similar to the social media platform Reddit and news publishers similar to Financial TimesThe company faces copyright lawsuits from the New York Times and other U.S. publications, in addition to questions on its corporate governance uncovered by a boardroom coup against Altman in November.
Its approach to security has also come into focus after two senior researchers tasked with developing AI security left the corporate last week.
When OpenAI demonstrated the updated model at an event in San Francisco last week, observers quickly noticed how similar the AI voice was to that of Johansson within the film, by which the protagonist falls in love with a virtual assistant played by the American actress is played.
On the day of the event, Altman posted on the social media site X: “her.”
According to Johansson, Altman asked her to talk to ChatGPT to “bridge the gap between tech corporations and creatives and help consumers get comfortable with the seismic shifts around people and AI.” He said he felt that my voice would comfort people.”
Johansson declined the offer, but Altman reached out to her agent again in the times leading as much as last week's OpenAI event and asked her to reconsider, the statement said. “Before we could connect, the system was on the market,” she said, adding that it “forced her to rent legal counsel.”
OpenAI said Sunday that it had paused the usage of “Sky,” certainly one of five AI voices available with the updated model, while it answered questions on it.
“We imagine that AI voices shouldn’t intentionally mimic a celeb's distinctive voice – Sky's voice will not be an imitation of Scarlett Johansson, but belongs to a different skilled actress using her own natural speaking voice,” the corporate said.
In her statement, Johansson responded: “At a time after we are all grappling with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identity, I imagine these are questions that deserve absolute clarity.”
