Scarlett Johansson Expresses Shock and Anger Over OpenAI’s Voice Resemblance

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson is sounding the alarm about the protection of “individual rights” and calling on the regulatory legislation of artificial intelligence personal voice assistants after a leading AI tech company developed one she said sounds like hers.

Johansson, 39, played the role of an AI personal chat assistant in the 2013 Spike Jonze romantic drama “Her,” starring actor Joaquin Phoenix.

In the film, Phoenix’s character falls in love with a feminine voice on his computer that was voiced by Johansson.

The trailer is below:

A decade later, the actress said in a statement to NPR published on Monday, she was approached by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asking her to be the voice of “Sky” – his company’s personal voice assistant.

Johansson said she turned the offer down, but months later, when the company’s new ChatGPT version was released, Johansson claims it had a voice that sounded so much like her own that other people thought it was her.

In September, Altman said he found the movie “prophetic,” the online news outlet The San Francisco Standard reported.

“I like ‘Her.’ The things ‘Her’ got right — like the whole interaction models of how people use AI—that was incredibly prophetic,” Altman said.

That same month, according to Johansson, Altman reached out to her.

“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson said in her statement. “He 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 Al. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”

She also said she seriously considered the offer but ended up declining it for personal reasons.

Nine months later she said she was stunned that the company released a voice she claimed was so similar to her own that she was “angered.”

The demonstration video is below:

“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 that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson said. “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.”

Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024

OpenAI’s personal assistant ultimately went live Johansson wasn’t happy.

“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,” she stated.

Johansson concluded, “Consequently, OpenAl reluctantly agreed to take down the ‘Sky’ voice. 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. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”

Altman told NPR that the company used a voice artist but declined to name her in order to protect her privacy.

“We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson,” Altman said in a statement. “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.”

OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati also said that the voice her company used was not inspired by Johansson’s and that when she heard the actress’ complaints she had to listen to her speak to remember what she sounded like.