Outrage: Sam Altman Apologizes As Scarlett Johansson Goes Public

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (ANI) – Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson has said she was “shocked,” “angered,” and “in disbelief” after OpenAI launched an artificial intelligence personal assistant voice that was “eerily similar” to her own. Johansson’s statement was released hours after the Sam Altman-founded tech company announced it was taking down the voice it had dubbed ‘Sky.’

Last week, OpenAI unveiled a new version of its flagship ChatGPT chatbot, which can read text aloud to users and can receive and respond to voice commands, images, and videos. Several people compared the similarities between the chatbot’s tone and Johansson’s voice in the 2013 film ‘Her.’ Directed by Spike Jonze, the movie is about a man who develops a close relationship with an advanced piece of software. In the film, the Academy Award-nominated Scarlett Johansson voices the character Samantha.

In a blog post on Monday, OpenAI described the process of choosing the voices used by ChatGPT, stating that they worked with award-winning casting and directing professionals to narrow down over 400 submissions before selecting five voices. Apart from Sky, the other voices debuted by OpenAI are dubbed Breeze, Cove, Ember, and Juniper.

According to NPR, Johansson’s legal team has sent OpenAI two letters asking the company how it developed the “Sky” voice. Johansson said that nine months ago, Altman had approached her, proposing that she allow her voice to be licensed for the new ChatGPT voice assistant, believing it would be “comforting to people” uneasy with AI technology.

“After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer,” Johansson said in her statement shared with NPR. She added that just two days before the new ChatGPT was unveiled, Altman again reached out to her team, urging her to reconsider. However, before they could connect, the company publicly announced its new product with a voice that she says appears to have copied her likeness.

“I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson said.

Following this, OpenAI stated on their blog, “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice. Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.” The tech company founder Altman further said that they have “paused” using Sky’s voice.

In a statement to NPR, Altman wrote, “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.”

Meanwhile, OpenAI is facing a wave of lawsuits from authors, including “Game of Thrones” writer George R.R. Martin, and news organizations, including The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. They allege the company violated copyright law by using their content to train its AI models.

On May 21, OpenAI chief Sam Altman apologized to Scarlett Johansson, stating, “The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. 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.”