Actor Scarlett Johansson has publicly accused OpenAI of creating an AI voice that sounds strikingly similar to her own after she declined an offer to voice the chatbot.
In a statement released on Monday, Johansson expressed her shock and frustration over the voice, named ‘Sky,’ which was introduced with OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4o. Johansson claimed that friends, family, and the public noticed the resemblance immediately, leaving her “shocked, angered, and in disbelief.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the accusations, clarifying that the voice of Sky was performed by a different professional actress and was never intended to imitate Johansson. Altman stated that the actress was cast before any contact with Johansson was made and stressed that the resemblance was unintentional.
Nevertheless, “out of respect for Johansson,” OpenAI decided to pause the use of Sky’s voice in their products. Altman also apologised for the lack of communication with Johansson regarding the voice casting.
“We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. 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,” Altman said.
Johansson’s statement pointed out that Altman had approached her last September with an offer to voice the chatbot, which she declined. She further noted that Altman appeared to insinuate an intentional similarity by referencing “Her,” the 2013 film where Johansson voices an AI assistant, in a tweet. In response to the situation, Johansson has hired legal counsel to investigate the creation process of the voice.
“I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected,” Johansson wrote in her statement.
