Actress Scarlett Johansson accuses OpenAi of using her voice against her will. The firm explains that it has initiated proceedings to withdraw part of these voice services.
This is not the first time that the OpenAi company has had issues regarding consent and copyright. Currently, she is the subject of a lawsuit from the New York Times magazine which accuses her of having used their data illegally. But this morning, it’s another case that shakes the firm and it concerns the famous American actress Scarlett Johansson.
In fact, Scarlett Johansson explains that she was contacted in September 2023, with a view to the presentation of the new voice assistant which took place on May 13. More precisely, it was Sam Altman who asked her to play the voice of the voice assistant named “Vox”, praising the actress’s talents when she played an AI in the film Her. To which the actress claimed to have declined the proposal for personal reasons. The general director did not stop there since two days before the presentation of the new version of ChatGPT, he contacted the actress’s team to put pressure and ask her to reconsider her decision.
And it is in a press release sent last night to the media NPR (National Public Radio) that Scarlett Johansson notes the actions of the firm. She notes that she and those around her noticed great similarities between the voice of the AI she plays in the film Her and that of the voice assistant: “When I heard the demo published, I was shocked, anger and disbelief that Mr. Altman had developed a voice that sounded so eerily like mine that my closest friends and the media couldn’t tell the difference.” The actress had, however, refused any copy and since last night she has accused the company of using her voice against her free will.
The response to the accusations from the CEO of OpenAi was not long in coming and the latter denied any existence of a link between the actress and the voice assistant: “The voice of Sky is not that of Scarlett Johansson and was never intended to sound like her. We recruited Sky’s voice before contacting Ms. Johansson. Following this, Sam Altam claims to be making changes to his voice assistant. For her part, the actress is asking for answers and details on the process which led to the implementation of this voice assistant.