The American actor accused OpenAI of building a virtual assistant voice that sounds «eerily similar» to her own — all without her permission.
Scarlett Johansson criticized OpenAI and founder Sam Altman on Monday, saying the AI company, which makes ChatGPT, created a new chatbot voice that sounded «eerily similar» to her own, after she declined to license her voice to the system.
«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,» Johansson wrote in a statement, published by NPR on Monday.
OpenAI showed off GPT-4 Omni (GPT-4o), its latest AI model, last week. The company demonstrated how the AI can converse in more human ways, complete with the ability to whisper, make sarcastic remarks and even flirt.
The demonstration of OpenAI’s virtual assistant quickly drew comparisons to Johansson’s character from the 2013 movie Her. In that film, directed by Spike Jonze, Johansson played Samantha, a virtual assistant that develops an intimate relationship with a lonely writer.
On Sunday, OpenAI said it has suspended the use of its AI voice, called Sky, while it addresses questions surrounding the issue of its virtual assistant’s voice. Sky, which has been available since OpenAI launched ChatGPT’s voice mode last September, was one of five voices available with GPT-4o. In a blog post published Sunday, OpenAI said that it did not copy Johansson’s voice.
