Actress Scarlett Johansson has said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” to hear OpenAI’s new ChatGPT voice, which she says sounds “eerily similar” to her own, despite her refusal to grant permission.
The updated ChatGPT, launched last week, now features real-time conversation capabilities, responding to both written and spoken prompts.
According to Johansson, OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman approached her last September to lend her voice to ChatGPT, but she turned down the offer.
Altman contacted her agent again just days before OpenAI’s recent event, urging her to reconsider. However, before they could connect, the new voice was released, prompting Johansson to seek legal counsel.
Observers at OpenAI’s San Francisco launch event quickly noted the voice’s resemblance to Johansson’s character in the film ‘Her’, where she plays a virtual assistant.
On the day of the event, Altman posted the word “her” on social media platform X.
She put the issue in the context of growing concerns about deepfakes and identity protection online. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” she said.
However, the company abruptly halted the use of the voice, named ‘Sky’. In a late-night post on X on Sunday, OpenAI announced it was pausing the voice to address “questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT.”
“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” the company has said.