Scarlett Johansson Says She Was ‘Shocked, Angered and in Disbelief’ After Hearing ChatGPT Voice That Sounds Like Her — Read Statement

Nick Caruso
·3 min read
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OpenAI is pausing the use of a voice named Sky that is part of a new demo of ChatGPT 4.0’s Voice Mode. The emotive voice has been called out for sounding a little too similar to Scarlett Johansson’s A.I. character from the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her, and Johansson herself has now stated she is “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that the tech company would use “a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine” — especially after she declined their offer to hire her to be the voice.

Saturday Night Live highlighted the Johansson similarity during its Season 49 finale Saturday. As in other recent finale episodes, Weekend Update hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost wrote each other’s jokes. The idea is “to give each other fun jokes, almost supportive jokes, that would never ruin our summer or career,” Jost explained.

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Naturally, the exercise devolved into a giggly affair as the two comedians read provocative lines that would otherwise be deemed tasteless, teeing up Che to force Jost to recite a ChatGPT line involving Jost’s wife, Johansson.

“ChatGPT has released a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson’s A.I. character in Her,” Jost said on Saturday’s program. “Which I’ve never bothered to watch because without that body, what’s the point of listening?” (Watch the full clip here.)

Early Monday morning, OpenAI announced they were pausing the Sky voice until they could address some of the growing issues and user questions surrounding it.

“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” the company wrote in a post on X. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.”

Open AI elaborated further in a blog post, both acknowledging users’ concerns and explaining its process for creating the voices, including details of its extensive casting process.

“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 wrote. “To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.”

The blog continued: “We spoke with each actor about the vision for human-AI voice interactions and OpenAI, and discussed the technology’s capabilities, limitations, and the risks involved, as well as the safeguards we have implemented. It was important to us that each actor understood the scope and intentions of Voice Mode before committing to the project.”

Later on Monday, Johansson released a statement (obtained by TVLine) claiming that she received an offer from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to be the voice of ChatGPT 4.0, but she declined the offer. When she later heard the demo of the Sky voice, “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 also claims that two days before ChatGPT 4.0 was released, OpenAI contacted her agent again to ask her to reconsider, but before she could respond, the new system — with Sky — was already released. She now has been “forced to hire legal counsel” and “look[s] forward to resolution in the form of transparency.”

Read her full statement below:

“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. 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.  

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. 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.

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.

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.”

 

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