Scarlett Johansson says she “was shocked, angry and in disbelief” as she claims the company OpenAI took her voice without her consent for a new ChatGPT project.
The Oscar-nominated actress, 39, issued a statement through her publicist Marcel Pariseau to NPRexplaining the problem in detail on Monday.
Johansson said that after she turned down a deal to allow the company to use her voice, they went ahead and used a voice indistinguishable from hers.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” said the New York City native. ‘He told me he felt that by expressing the system, he could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers get comfortable with the seismic shift affecting humans and AI.
‘He said he felt my voice would be comforting to people. After much consideration and for personal reasons, she declined the offer.
Scarlett Johansson, 39, says she was “shocked, angry and in disbelief” as she claims the company OpenAI took her voice without her consent for a new ChatGPT project. Photographed last month in Washington, DC.
Johansson, who voiced the role of an AI named Samantha in the 2013 film Her, said that less than a year later, it was clear that the company was moving forward with its voice-related plans.
“Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public noticed that the new system called ‘Sky’ looked a lot like me,” Johansson said. “When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angry, and incredulous that Mr. Altman would use a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and the media couldn’t tell the difference.
‘Mister. Altman even hinted that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word “she,” a reference to the movie in which he voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.
Johansson said Altman contacted his agent “two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released” and asked him to reconsider his offer to work for them.
“Before we could connect, the system was already available,” Johansson said. ‘As a result of their actions, I was forced to retain legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAl, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the “Sky” voice. .’
Johansson said OpenAl “reluctantly agreed to remove the vocals from “Sky”” after contacting them.
Johansson said she hopes the information she has made public will prompt AI to publicly admit its actions and that the government will step in and put laws in place so AI cannot overstep its boundaries in the future.
“In a time when we’re all dealing with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identities, I think these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” Johansson said.
Johansson said she hopes the information she has made public will prompt AI to publicly admit its actions and that the government will step in and put laws in place so AI cannot overstep its boundaries in the future.
The Academy Award-nominated actress issued a statement through her publicist Marcel Pariseau to NPR, explaining the issue in detail on Monday.
Johansson said that after she turned down a deal to allow the company to use her voice, they went ahead and used a voice indistinguishable from hers.
He added: “I look forward to a resolution in the form of transparency and the passing of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
The voice that Johansson claims was similar to hers, titled ‘Sky,’ was one of five voices that OpenAI made available last fall, according to Washington Postwhich added that the company suspended the use of voice as of Sunday.
The company said in a blog that it had trained voices for the audio option of its most developed artificial intelligence program and compensated the voice actors at “above-market rates” for their work on the program.
Johansson and her spouse, Saturday Night Live personality Colin Jost, 41, are parents to two-year-old son Cosmo. The actress is also the mother of her nine-year-old daughter Rose Dauriac with her ex-husband Romain Dauriac, 42.
