In the Rings It’s Scarlett Johansson V/S Open AI Sam Altman

Where in the recent times, actors around various industries like Bollywood or Hollywood are facing problems and harassment with the advancement of AI. Actress Scarlett Johansson has taken Legal route against Open AI for using a voice very similar to her in the company’s newly launched AI named “Sky”.

Ever since the new AI debuted, comparisons were drawn between Johansson and AI’s voice.

But How Johansson Can be so Sure of OpenAI Using her Voice?

Recently in a statement She said that the CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman in September came to her with a request to voice ChatGPT’s text-to-speech product, because apparently Altman found Scarlett’s voice ‘comforting’, but she declines the offer, according to the New York Times.
Nine months later when ChatGPT launched its new voice product, Scarlett said, she was so “shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that even her closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.”

Scarlett Johansson’s open statement of the matter –

What action Johannson has Taken?

Johansson added in her statement to the Times that she hired legal counsel to ask Altman how the company had created the the voice, which OpenAI calls Sky. Altman has stated publicly that he is a fan of the 2013 movie “Her,” starring Johansson as a voice robot.

 

What is OpenAI’s statement?

Although OpenAI’s Altman clarified that Sky’s voice is not modeled after Johansson’s, the company has decided to pause its use of Sky’s voice to address user concerns about the selection and sampling process in ChatGPT.

In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch on Tuesday, Altman emphasized that “the voice of Sky was never intended to resemble hers,” and noted, “We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t communicate better.”

On Monday, the company announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it was suspending the use of Sky’s voice.

About OpenAI’s Sky product?

Sky is ChatGPT’s voice. To help users convert speech-to-text sky will help. In September along with sky – Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper were also launched.

Follow ups:

Open AI has also posted on ‘x’ about netizens questions on how AI voices are chosen. Here’s the post –