Hollywood icon Scarlett Johansson stated that OpenAI used a voice “eerily similar” to hers for their new ChatGPT 4o chatbot, despite her having declined the company’s request to provide her voice. Earlier in the day, OpenAI announced that it would no longer be using the voice, but did not specify the reason.
A dispute with a Hollywood star is adding to Sam Altman’s concerns as scrutiny of the $86 billion start-up intensifies. OpenAI has been leading the way among AI start-ups and major tech companies like Google and Microsoft in creating advanced tools that can generate responses to a wide array of human input using audio, text, or images.
For those, who are not aware, the Black Widow star voiced an artificial intelligence chatbot in the 2013 movie ‘Her.’ Referring to the same, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted the movie’s name in relation to the company’s new voice offerings something Johansson noted in her statement.
Scarlett Johansson Reveals She Declined The Offer
In an official statement, Scarlett Johansson stated, “Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”
She continued, “After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me.”
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Scarlett Johansson: I Was Shocked, Angered & In Disbelief
Scarlett Johansson, in her statement, added, “When I heard the released demo, 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.”
Sam Altman’s announcement of the new product was shared on X on the same day of the product demonstration and is still live. Johansson further said, “Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘her’ – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.”
Scarlett Johansson: Mr. Altman Contacted My Agent