Scarlett Johansson ‘annoyed’ by ChatGPT voice that resembled hers

sCarlett Johansson said Monday she was “shocked, angry and in disbelief” when she learned that OpenAI used a voice “eerily similar” to hers for its new ChatGPT 4.0 chatbot, even after she refused to provide her voice.

On Monday morning, OpenAI announced on X which would pause the voice of the AI, known as “Sky,” while addressing “questions about how we choose voices in ChatGPT.” The company said in a blog post that the “Sky” voice was “not an imitation” of Johansson’s voice, but that it was recorded by a different professional actor, whose identity the company has not revealed to protect his privacy.

But Johansson said in a statement to NPR on Monday that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asked her in September to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 system because he thought her “voice would be comforting to people.” She declined, but nine months later, her friends, family and the public noticed how much “Sky”’s voice sounded like hers.

“When I heard the demo released, I was shocked, angry, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and media outlets wouldn’t know the difference,” the actress said in her testimony. declaration. “Sir. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘she’ – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.”

Johansson said she was “forced to hire a lawyer” because of the situation, and that her lawyer wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI asking them to explain the process of creating the “Sky” voice. Afterwards, OpenAI “reluctantly agreed” to remove voice from the platform, she said.

“At a time when we are all fighting against deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are issues that deserve absolute clarity,” Johansson said in her statement. “I look forward to a resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”

OpenAI first revealed voice functions for ChatGPT in September. In November, the company announced that the feature would be free for all users of the mobile app. Chat GPT 4.0 is not yet publicly available – it will be released in the coming weeks and months, according to Associated press.