Scarlett Johansson 'shocked' by AI chatbot imitation
- author, Matt Murphy
- role, BBC news
- Reporter London
-
Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson said she was “shocked” and “angered” after OpenAI launched a chatbot with a voice that was “eerily similar” to hers.
The actress said she previously turned down an approach from the company to provide audio for a new chatbot that reads text to users.
When the new model, called Sky, debuted last week, commentators were quick to compare the chatbot's tone to Johansson's in the 2013 film “Her.”
OpenAI announced on Monday that it would remove the audio, but insisted it was not intended to “imitate” Starr.
But in a statement seen by the BBC on Monday night, Johansson accused the company and its founder, Sam Altman, of deliberately copying her voice.
“When I heard the public demo, I was shocked and angry, and couldn't believe that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded eerily similar to mine,” she wrote. ing.
“Mr. Altman even hinted that the resemblance was intentional, tweeting the word 'she', a nod to the movie in which I played the voice of Samantha, a chat system that creates intimate relationships with humans.” did.”
The two-time Academy Award nominee said she was first approached by Altman in September to voice the new chatbot.
”[Mr Altman] Johansson wrote that I felt that by speaking out about systems, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creators and help consumers feel safe about the seismic shifts around humans and AI.
“He said my voice would comfort people.”
But she said she ultimately rejected the offer for personal reasons.
She added that two days before the Sky chatbot was released, Altman contacted her representative and urged Johansson to reconsider her initial refusal to cooperate with the company.
Adding that she was forced to hire a lawyer, the actress said she sent two legal documents to the company to establish how the voice was created.
“In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and protecting our own likeness, our work, our identities, I believe these are issues that need to be fully clear,” she wrote.
In a statement shared with the BBC by OpenAI, Mr. Altman denied that the company had attempted to imitate Mr. Johansson's voice.
“Skye's voice is not Scarlett Johansson's and was not intended to sound like hers,” he wrote.
“We cast a voice actor for Skye's voice before contacting Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused the use of Skye's voice in our products. I apologize to Mr. Johansson for not being able to communicate.”
Separately, the company said it was “working to suspend” the voice while it addressed questions about how it was chosen for posts on X (formerly Twitter).
OpenAI said in a blog post that the five voices used in the chatbot were sampled from partnered voice actors.
Johansson's legal threats come as the company faces multiple pending lawsuits.
The New York Times announced in December that it plans to file a lawsuit against the company over allegations that the company used “millions” of articles published by the media to train its ChatGPT AI model.
And in September, authors George R.R. Martin and John Grisham also announced plans to sue, alleging copyright infringement for training the system.
