Scarlett Johansson at war with OpenAI

Scarlett Johansson has expressed her outrage at a recent release ofOpenAI‘s ChatGPT application. Indeed, the artificial intelligence company had approached the actress to be the voice of the GPT4.0 chatbot, nicknamed Sky. Having turned down the offer, Sky became very angry when she learned that the application had turned to a voice very similar to her own. She therefore instructed her lawyers to take up the case.

Scarlett Johansson said she turned down OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s request to lend her voice to ChatGPT — and that she was “angered” that the company went ahead and used a voice that sounded very similar to hers anyway.

“I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman… pic.twitter.com/ocd0d8736j

— Variety (@Variety) May 20, 2024

According to Variety, the actress, who lent her voice to Samantha in the film Her, saw the plot of that film becoming eerily similar to real-life events. After declining the offer fromOpenAI CEO Sam Altman, she expressed shock at the new Sky feature, mentioning that her friends and family were unable to distinguish the AI’s voice from her own.

This is what reportedly prompted the actress to take legal action. Johansson revealed in her statement thatAltman had contacted her agent a few days before the GPT-4.0 dialog voice demonstration, asking if she wanted to reconsider. However, according to her, the system was already in place before she could respond to this new request.

OpenAI has temporarily stopped using Sky‘s voice. In a statement, Sam Altman claims that the program’s voice was not intended to mimic Johansson’s, and that it was recorded by an actress whose natural voice was used for this version of the GPT-4.0 chatbot .

However, as the voice is as unique as a fingerprint, we have no doubt that this matter will be resolved quickly.

This incident reopens the debate on the rapid progress made in recent years by artificial intelligence technology.

Did you see Her at the time?