Actor Scarlett Johansson has accused OpenAI of using a voice similar to hers as one of the AI model’s voices.
Days after pausing one of the voice models for being too similar to Scarlett Johannsson’s voice, a report by the Washington Post suggests that the similarity was unintentional.
The report says that last year, the company had sought applications from actors between 25 and 40 years old who had “warm, engaging, charismatic” voices. The actors had to be nonunion, and the company wasn’t explicitly looking for people with voice qualities similar to Scarlett Johansson’s.
Moreover, the voice actress was hired months before OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman reached out to the actor to voice one of the AI models.
The Post interviewed various people involved in the hiring process and the actor’s agent behind Sky’s voice to confirm if there was any mention of Johansson or the need to mimic her voice.
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That said, the Post heard the clips of the initial test of the actor and said that the voice naturally sounded similar to Johansson’s character in the movie “Her.” The report adds that OpenAI did not tweak or alter the voice to make it sound like Johannson’s.
“As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel."Scarlett Johansson's statement on the OpenAI 'Sky' voice sounding similar to hers pic.twitter.com/F1NhtXY7R6
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) May 20, 2024
For those unaware, Johansson alleged that the company copied her voice without her permission as the voice of Sky. She claimed that Sam Altman had contacted her team to reconsider her decision not to lend her voice to the AI assistant close to ChatGPT 4.0’s demo release.
Sky’s actress, through her agent, also told The Post that she used her “natural voice” and has never been compared to Johansson by people who know her closely.
That said, while OpenAI has temporarily paused using Sky’s voice, you can still access ChatGPT’s four other voices.