The actor from “Her” claimed that OpenAI did not cease utilizing the voice until she obtained legal advice.
Scarlett Johansson, an actress, has accused OpenAI of using her voice for one of the voice assistants in ChatGPT, despite the fact that she has denied the business permission to use her voice in that capacity. The announcement made by Johansson on Monday came just a few hours after OpenAI said that the firm will no longer use the voice in ChatGPT. However, the company did not provide any explanation for this decision.
As Johansson stated in the statement that was initially distributed to NPR, “Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” the statement was initially shared with NPR. “He shared with me that he believed that by expressing the system, I would be able to bridge the gap between creatives and tech businesses, as well as assist customers in feeling more at ease with the seismic shift that is occurring in relation to people and artificial intelligence. His statement was that he believed that people would find solace in hearing my voice. Johansson went on to say that she had declined the offer after “much consideration and for personal reasons.” However, when OpenAI demonstrated GPT-4o, the company’s most recent huge language model, last week, “my friends, family, and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me.”
I was “shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mind that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson stated when she viewed the most recent demo that OpenAI had to provide. In addition to this, she disclosed that Altman had contacted her agent just two days prior to the firm’s announcement of GPT-4o and requested that she reconsider the decision. However, the corporation proceeded to release the system without giving her the opportunity to comment.
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” claimed an OpenAI spokeswoman in a statement that was provided to Engadget. The comment was credited to Altman, who is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Before reaching out to Ms. Johansson, we made sure to cast the voice actress who would be responsible for Sky’s voice. Regarding Ms. Johansson, we have decided to refrain from using her voice in any of our goods for the time being. Ms. Johansson, we are sorry that we were unable to communicate with you more effectively.
GPT-4o, which was disclosed by the firm just last week, takes things to a whole new level, despite the fact that “Sky” has been one of the voice assistants in ChatGPT since September 2023. According to the company, the new model is closer to “much more natural human-computer interaction.” Additionally, the company demonstrated its executives having conversations with the voice assistant in ChatGPT that were nearly identical to those of humans. This prompted comparisons to Samantha, the virtual voice assistant that Johansson portrayed in the film Her (2013). Samantha is a character who has a close relationship with a human being. Shortly after the tragedy, Altman tweeted a single word, which was “her,” in what appeared to be a reference to the movie.
In a lengthy post that was published on Monday, OpenAI said that it would be stopping the use of “Sky” in ChatGPT. The post also revealed that the business had employed professional voice actresses to develop its own virtual assistants, and it denied that there were any similarities between the voices of Johansson and those of the virtual assistants.
“We believe that artificial intelligence 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,” OpenAI wrote. The company also added that each of its performers, whose names it declined to reveal for reasons of privacy, was paid “above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products.”
According to Johansson’s statement, this action was only taken after she retained legal counsel, who then proceeded to write two letters to Altman and OpenAI, requesting an explanation to the matter. “At a time when we are all struggling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, and our own identities, I believe that these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” Johansson wrote. “It is my belief that these questions deserve to be answered.” A resolution in the form of transparency and the enactment of relevant laws to assist in ensuring that individual rights are safeguarded is something that I am looking forward to as a resolution.