Scarlett Johansson Battles OpenAI: Claims ChatGPT Voice Mimics Hers, Legal Action Underway

Scarlett Johansson has opened up front against OpenAI and alleged that it used a ChatGPT voice which was erringly similar to her voice.

She also revealed that OpenAI had approached her to use her voice for the company’s AI chatbot in September 2023.

However, after careful consideration, she decided to reject the offer.

Nine months later, her friends found that the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like her voice.

She further stated that she is seeking legal recourse to get the voice removed from ChatGPT.

The company has since removed the voice called Sky from the ChatGPT bot, stating that they did it “out of respect for Ms. Johansson.”

Scarlett Johansson Confronts OpenAI Over ChatGPT Voice Similarity

However, in a statement to a media outlet, Sam Altman said,

“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson.”

Scarlett Johansson said in a statement,

“As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the ‘Sky’ voice.”

As mention above, as a result of Johansson’s threat of taking legal action, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the ‘Sky’ voice. Sky now features another voice named Juniper.

When Sam Altman was asked why OpenAI took down Sky, this was his response,

“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.”

Scarlett Johansson also rued the fact that it is an age of deepfakes and everyone is grappling with this problem.

It is important for the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities and these are questions which need answers with utmost clarity.

Johansson also said that she is looking forward to the formulation of proper regulations which protects the rights of the individuals.

OpenAI is already facing a slew of lawsuits from publishing houses and individuals who allege that their copyright works were used to perfect the language models of AI apps like ChatGPT.