Scarlett Johansson Accuses OpenAI of Using Voice Without Permission
Scarlett Johansson states she is shocked and angered after OpenAI releases an AI voice that sounds eerily similar to her own, despite her declining their licensing offer. The company pulls the "Sky" voice but insists it belongs to a different professional actor.
Scarlett Johansson accuses OpenAI of using a voice that sounds eerily similar to hers for the GPT-4o system without her permission. She states that CEO Sam Altman personally offered her a licensing deal last September to voice the chatbot, but she declines the offer for personal reasons. Nine months later, the public and her inner circle immediately notice that the newly released "Sky" voice sounds exactly like her.
OpenAI recently removes the "Sky" voice from ChatGPT following the public backlash, but the company insists it is not an imitation of Johansson. A spokesperson claims that another professional actor recorded the voice and that they do not intend to reveal this actor's name for privacy reasons. The situation draws heavy scrutiny because Altman previously referenced the 2013 movie "Her," in which Johansson famously voices an AI companion, right around the time of the new voice feature's debut.
This unfolding controversy highlights the growing tension between artificial intelligence developers and creative professionals over the use of human likenesses. Johansson expresses that she is shocked and angered by the situation, forcing a broader conversation about consent and intellectual property in the age of generative AI. Legal experts expect this dispute to set an important precedent for how tech companies handle voice and image licensing moving forward.