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]

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