Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson said she was "shocked" and "angered" after OpenAI launched a chatbot with a voice "eerily similar" to hers.
Johansson revealed she had previously rejected an offer to voice the new chatbot, which reads text aloud to users. When the model debuted, many noted the resemblance between the chatbot's "Sky" voice and Johansson's voice in the 2013 film “Her.”
OpenAI denied the accusations, insisting the voice was not intended to be an imitation. "The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," said OpenAI founder Sam Altman in a statement. "We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms Johansson."
However, Johansson remained unconvinced. "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," she wrote in a statement.
Johansson said Altman had initially approached her to voice the chatbot in September. "Altman told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI," she wrote. "He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people."
She ultimately rejected the offer but claimed Altman contacted her agent again just days before the launch, urging her to reconsider. Johansson said she had hired lawyers and sent legal letters to OpenAI demanding to know how the voice was created, according to BBC.
"In a time when we are all grappling with deep fakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity," she wrote.
OpenAI removed the voice "out of respect for Ms Johansson" and said it was "working to pause" it while they addressed concerns. The company also stated it partners with voice actors to create its chatbots.
The incident comes amid growing concerns over the use of AI and copyright. Johansson participated in a strike last year which addressed how studios might utilize AI to imitate actors' voices and faces without consent.
AI voice licensing expert Dan Stein commented on the situation, saying, "To use someone’s voice without permission feels particularly invasive at a time when distrust of AI and concern over its potential harms are rampant."
OpenAI has faced other legal challenges regarding its use of copyrighted information. The New York Times reportedly planned to sue the company for allegedly using "millions" of their articles to train its ChatGPT AI, while authors George RR Martin and John Grisham also planned legal action over copyright infringement claims.
