Scarlett Johansson Slams OpenAI’s “Eerily Similar” Voice After Declining Offer
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00:00 Scarlett Johansson does not want to be her.
00:03 [Music]
00:06 "Hello, I'm here."
00:08 "Hi."
00:09 "Hi. How you doing?"
00:11 The Black Widow star calls out OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
00:16 for allegedly using a voice in its artificial intelligence software
00:21 that she believes sounds like her own without her consent.
00:25 She says in a statement her rep issued to NBC News on May 20th
00:30 that according to Johansson, the businessman sent her an offer in September
00:35 to hire her as the voice of the chat GBT 4.0 system, but she turned it down.
00:41 She says, quote, "He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people
00:45 after much consideration and for personal reasons declined the offer."
00:50 However, Johansson accuses the company of going ahead with it by using a voice
00:56 that, quote, "sounded like me" without her consent on their new system called Sky,
01:01 even saying that her, quote, "friends, family, and the general public all noted similarities."
01:08 "When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief
01:13 that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine."
01:18 The 39-year-old continues, quote, "Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional,
01:25 tweeting a single word, 'her,' a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system,
01:31 Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human."
01:35 Altman tweeted the word on May 13th.
01:37 In her statement, Johansson further alleges that Altman contacted her agent
01:42 four days before the demo dropped, asking her to, quote, "reconsider the offer."
01:48 She shares, quote, "Before we could connect, the system was out there.
01:52 As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel."
01:56 Johansson's lawyers wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI.
02:00 According to the Oscar nominee, who added that the company reluctantly agreed to take down the Sky voice,
02:07 she concludes, quote, "In a time where we are all grappling with deep fakes
02:12 and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities,
02:17 I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity.
02:20 I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation
02:27 to help ensure that individual rights are protected."
02:30 OpenAI addresses concerns over the Sky voice on May 19th, tweeting, quote,
02:36 "We've heard questions about how we chose the voices in #ChatGBT, especially Sky.
02:42 We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.
02:46 The organization also denies that the audio intentionally replicated Johansson's voice."
02:51 Their May 19th statement reads, quote,
02:54 "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice.
03:00 Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson,
03:03 but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.
03:09 To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents."
03:13 E! News has reached out to Altman, ChatGBT, and OpenAI
03:17 for comment on the actress's statement, but has not heard back.
03:21 [MUSIC]