Scarlett Johansson recently claimed that her voice was used by OpenAI for an AI chatbot. The famous actress shared the interesting events that unfolded after OpenAI approached her to use her voice. Here are all the surprising details of the story…

Scarlett Johansson: ‘OpenAI wanted to use my voice’

Last week, OpenAI introduced a voice named “Sky” with its new GPT-4o model. Users noticed that this voice sounded remarkably like Scarlett Johansson, and events quickly unfolded. Johansson immediately involved her legal advisors and requested detailed information from OpenAI on how this voice was developed.

In her statement, Johansson mentioned that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman approached her last September with an offer to use her voice. Altman said that Johansson’s voice could bridge the gap between AI and humans and comfort people amidst this major change. However, after long deliberations, Johansson declined the offer for personal reasons.

OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced that the new version of ChatGPT, GPT-4o, will be free for everyone! Here are the details.

Johansson said, “Nine months later, when my friends, family, and the general public noticed how much the new system sounded like me, I was shocked. I thought Altman might have done this resemblance intentionally.” At this point, Johansson felt the need to consult her legal advisors because she believed the similarity was deliberate.

OpenAI stated that the Sky voice does not belong to Scarlett Johansson and that the resemblance was not intentional. CEO Sam Altman said they made another offer to Johansson before introducing the Sky voice but did not receive a response. Altman said, “Sky’s voice does not belong to Scarlett Johansson and was not intended to resemble her. The actor voicing Sky was chosen before reaching out to Johansson. Still, out of respect, we stopped using the Sky voice.”

During the introduction of the Sky voice, it caused a significant buzz on social media with its flirtatious tone and remarks. The voice, used to promote OpenAI’s new GPT-4o model, was compared by many to the virtual assistant Samantha voiced by Johansson in the movie “Her.” In the demonstration, the Sky voice said things like, “Wow, what a cool outfit you’re wearing!” and “Stop, you’re making me blush,” which many found reminiscent of Johansson’s role.

In her statement, Johansson said, “When Sam Altman made this offer to me, he said he believed I could establish an emotional connection between technological innovations and people. However, nine months after declining the offer, when my friends and the public noticed how much the new system’s voice resembled mine, I was greatly shocked.”

OpenAI stated that they would be more careful about protecting personal rights in their AI systems. Johansson emphasized the need for more transparency and legal regulations following this incident. “I believe that our identities, works, and personas must be protected. I believe more transparency and appropriate laws are necessary,” she said.

This incident once again highlighted how blurred the lines can be between AI technologies and personal rights. Ultimately, the event between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI shows that more effort is needed to balance AI technologies and personal rights. Let’s see how this interesting story will conclude and what steps will be taken to prevent similar situations. What do you think? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.