Scarlett Johansson ‘shocked’: OpenAI uses her voice for chatbot 'Sky' without consent; tech giant halts synthetic voice

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Also Read | Making ChatGPT ‘sexy’ may not be the best way to make it better “Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system," Johansson stated. “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 feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people." Also Read | 5 reasons why you should get a ChatGPT subscription as GPT-4o kicks in Despite being flattered by the offer, Johansson declined for personal reasons.

However, she was taken aback nine months later when she and those close to her noted the “uncanny similarity" between her voice and the voice of the newly released AI system, "Sky". "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," Johansson continued.

The situation escalated when Altman tweeted a cryptic reference to her role in the film Her, in which she voiced an AI named Samantha. This added to her suspicion that the similarity was intentional. Johansson revealed that just two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Altman contacted her agent, asking her to reconsider.

The timing, she said, was too close to the release to change anything. Consequently, she sought legal counsel, who sent letters to Altman and OpenAI, demanding transparency and the removal of the "Sky" voice. "Because of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr Altman and OpenAI, describing what they had done and