After Scarlett Johansson declined OpenAI’s offer to provide her voice for their chatbot, she ultimately decided to pursue legal action.
The voice that was utilized for OpenAI’s famous chatbot was that of an actress that the artificial intelligence research firm recruited months before the CEO of the business ever reached out to the Lucy star. The voice was astonishingly similar to Scarlett Johansson’s voice, and it was used for the chatbot.
According to papers and audio that were acquired by The Washington Post, OpenAI issued a casting call in May 2023 with the intention of using non-union actors who had voices that were “warm, engaging, and charismatic” and were between the ages of 25 and 45 years old in order to provide the voice for the existing ChatGPT 4.0 system. According to the publication, which cites interviews with multiple individuals who were involved in the hiring process as well as documents that were shared by OpenAI, the one thing that the company did not request was a clone of Johansson. Johansson was approached by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in September of last year with the opportunity to lend her own voice, but she declined the offer.
Currently, the voice actress’s representation has informed the Post that neither Johansson nor the film Her were ever referenced by OpenAI anywhere in their conversation. Also, according to the outlet’s study of a few short recordings of her first voice test, the actress’s genuine voice sounds exactly the same as the voice that OpenAI has developed using artificial intelligence and given the name “Sky.”
It is after Johansson made her statement and accused Altman of replicating her voice for ChatGPT that she decided to pursue legal action. The explanation comes after Johansson made her statement. Johansson, via her representative, issued a statement to ET in which she revealed the circumstances surrounding her encounter with Altman and her disgust for Altman once she discovered that “Sky” sounds frighteningly similar to her own voice.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” according to Johansson’s statement. “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 change that is occurring in relation to people and artificial intelligence. He expressed his belief that there would be a sense of solace in the sound of my voice.
“After giving it a lot of thought and for reasons that are more personal to me, I decided to decline the offer,” the statement added. “Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me.”
When she first heard the recording, Johansson said that she “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.”
“Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘her’ – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human,” the statement said, making a reference to the film Her, which was released in 2013.
“Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider,” Johansson stated in her statement, which was released a few days before the sample was made available to the public. The system was already in operation before we were able to connect to it.
“As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the ‘Sky’ voice,” according to the official statement. “Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the ‘Sky’ voice.”
The conclusion of Johansson’s remark was a broad statement concerning the development of artificial intelligence.
“In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” according to the official statement. “I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
The problem was addressed by Altman in a statement that was sent to The Verge after Johansson’s remark, which was first acquired by NPR, was made public.
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” he stated to reporters. Before reaching out to Ms. Johansson, we made sure to hire the voice actress who would be responsible for Sky’s voice. Regarding Ms. Johansson, we have decided to refrain from utilizing her voice in any of our goods for the time being. Ms. Johansson, we are sorry that we were unable to connect with you more effectively.
Before Johansson made her remark, her husband, Colin Jost, responded to the issue by making a joke about it. It was during his joke swap with Michael Che on Saturday Night Live over the weekend when the moment occurred. In this exchange, one guy delivers jokes that the other man has written without reading them previously.
“ChatGPT has released a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson’s AI character in Her,” Jost remarked with a great deal of anxiety during the “Weekend Update” part of the program. “Which I’ve never bothered to watch, because without that body what’s the point of listening?”