Scarlett Johansson accuses OpenAI of using her voice in ChatGPT without her consent

Last week, OpenAI introduced a new conversational interface for ChatGPT featuring an expressive, synthetic voice that sounded remarkably like the AI assistant voiced by Scarlett Johansson in the sci-fi movie “Her.” However, over the weekend, OpenAI unexpectedly disabled the new voice.

On Monday, Johansson released a statement claiming she had compelled this reversal after her lawyers demanded that OpenAI explain how the new voice was created.

According to Johansson’s statement, relayed to agencies by her publicist, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had asked her last September to provide ChatGPT’s new voice, but she declined. She expressed shock and anger upon seeing the company demo a new voice for ChatGPT last week that closely resembled hers.

“When I heard the release 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,” the statement reads. It also notes that Altman seemed to encourage the public to associate the demo with Johansson’s performance by tweeting “her,” referencing the movie, on May 13.

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Johansson’s statement mentions that her agent was contacted by Altman two days before last week’s demo, asking her to reconsider her decision not to work with OpenAI. After witnessing the demo, she hired legal counsel to write to OpenAI requesting details on how the new voice was created.

This led to OpenAI’s announcement on Sunday in a post on X that it had decided to “pause the use of Sky,” the company’s name for the synthetic voice. OpenAI also posted a blog detailing the process used to create the voice. “Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” the post stated.

Sky is one of several synthetic voices that OpenAI introduced to ChatGPT last September, but at last week’s event, it presented a more lifelike intonation with emotional cues. The demo showcased a version of ChatGPT powered by a new AI model called GPT-4o, which appeared to flirt with an OpenAI engineer, reminding many viewers of Johansson’s performance in “Her.”

“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” Sam Altman said in a statement from OpenAI. He explained that the voice actor for Sky was hired before the company contacted 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.”

The conflict with Johansson adds to OpenAI’s ongoing disputes with artists, writers, and other creatives. The company is already defending several lawsuits alleging it misused copyrighted content to train its algorithms.

Agency: WIRED

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