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Sam Altman denies that Johansson was the inspiration, although the film star says he offered her the role of voice of ChatGPT.
OpenAI asked Scarlett Johansson to provide voice acting to be used in the company’s new AI voice assistant, but the actress declined, according to a deposition obtained by
NPR on Monday. And after last week’s demo, Johansson says she was shocked to hear a voice identical to her own. Especially since OpenAI was asking for Johansson’s help as recently as two days before the event.
OpenAI announced early Monday it would “pause the use of Sky” as a voice option. But Johansson is threatening legal action, and her statement goes into detail about why.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson said in the statement, referring to the OpenAI director. “He told me that he felt that by voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers feel comfortable with the seismic shift affecting humans and AI. He felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”
OpenAI announced early Monday it would “pause the use of Sky” as a voice option. But Johansson is threatening legal action, and her statement goes into detail about why.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson said in the statement, referring to the OpenAI director. “He told me that he felt that by voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers feel comfortable with the seismic shift affecting humans and AI. He felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”
Altman certainly did that. But in some ways it gets even worse. Because, according to Johansson, Altman contacted his agent again just a couple of days before the showing.
“Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent and asked me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there,” Johansson said in her statement. “As a result of his actions, I was forced to hire a lawyer, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAl, outlining what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the voice of ‘Sky.’”
Johansson went on to explain that OpenAI did not want to eliminate voice.
“Accordingly, OpenAI has reluctantly agreed to remove ‘Sky’s’ voice,” Johansson said. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identities, I think these are issues that deserve absolute clarity. I hope that this will be resolved in the form of transparency and the passing of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
Johansson went on to explain that OpenAI did not want to eliminate voice.
“Accordingly, OpenAI has reluctantly agreed to remove ‘Sky’s’ voice,” Johansson said. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identities, I think these are issues that deserve absolute clarity. I hope that this will be resolved in the form of transparency and the passing of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
It’s okay, Sam. You are getting there.
