Scarlett Johansson's Voice Sounds Like OpenAI's "Sky," Threatens Legal Action

If Scarlett Johansson isn't safe from AI, what does that say for the rest of us?

Recently, OpenAI introduced one of its voice options, Sky, for its latest ChatGPT model – but the feature was placed on hold shortly after the Marvel star noted that Sky's voice sounds "eerily similar" to hers.

Sky's voice closely mimics Johansson's from the film Her, in which she played a virtual assistant named Samantha. A little less than one week after OpenAI debuted the voice, Johansson's publicist, Marcel Pariseau, issued a statement from the actress. According to Johansson, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had contacted her regarding the project and asked her to voice ChatGPT 4.0.

"Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system," Johansson wrote in the statement shared on Monday. "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 to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people."

Even though Johansson denied Altman's offer, she says everyone in her circle realized how much Sky sounded like her. She continued, "After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named 'Sky' sounded like me."

"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," she added. "Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word 'her' – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human."

Johansson is now threatening legal action. "Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there. As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the 'Sky' voice. Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the 'Sky' voice," Johansson wrote.

"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. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected," she concluded.

Altman has spoken about Her in the past, labeling it "prophetic" and saying that it "more than a little bit inspired us."

Does Scarlett Johansson Sound Like Sky?

In case you want to hear Sky for yourself, here it is in a demo:

However, OpenAI fans argue that it isn't Johansson's voice and just sounds like hers. "OAI isn't at fault if it's genuinely a different voice actress," tweeted @ananayarora. "Just because X sounds like Scarlett Johansson, doesn't make it Scarlett Johansson's voice. Fight the lawsuit, bring Sky back."

Sam Altman Denies Allegations

Altman issued a statement to news outlets following the allegations, asserting that the voice of Sky is not Johansson's. "The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers. 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," the statement read.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Johansson's likeness has been used without her consent. The actress appeared in an ad posted to X by an AI image-generating app, Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar. The ad has since vanished from the internet, according to Variety. "We do not take these things lightly. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have,” Kevin Yorn, the attorney for Johansson, told the outlet.

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