Joe Biden Urges “Trustworthy” AI-Generated Audio; Statement Comes A Day After Scarlett Johansson Called Out OpenAI Over Use Of “Her”-Like Voice

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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Joe Biden is singling out the need for “safe, secure, trustworthy, and responsible” innovation in the use of AI generated audio, as Congress considers legislation to establish guardrails around the use of a person’s likeness without their consent.

Biden’s statement, posted to his X/Twitter account, comes as major guilds and artists groups are pushing for passage of the No Fakes Act, designed to curb the use of deepfakes. The president’s statement also comes a day after actress Scarlett Johansson called out OpenAI over the use of a similar voice to hers, even after she declined to give her consent.

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Biden wrote, “Artificial intelligence and the companies that wield its possibilities are going to transform the lives of people around the world – there’s no doubt about that. But first, they must earn our trust. I commit to do everything in my power to promote and demand safe, secure, trustworthy, and responsible innovation – that includes the use of AI-generated audio. I ask that AI companies join me in that commitment.”

In a statement, Johansson said that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reached out to her last year, seeking to use her voice in the ChatGPT 4.0 system. She had voiced a chat system in the movie Her.

Johansson said that two days before the ChatGPT demo was released, Altman contacted her agent, asking her to reconsider. But the system was released before they could connect. That system featured a voice, Sky, that sounded like her. Earlier on Monday, OpenAI said that it was pulling the Sky voice.

“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 said.

Biden has focused on the need for regulation around AI, having issued a series of executive orders to establish guidelines by the federal government as well as to set up a process for identifying deepfakes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also has been having a series of “insight forums,” with the aim of sweeping legislation. But some consumer groups found a “bipartisan roadmap” report from those meetings to be lacking heft.

Evan Greer of Fight for the Future said in a statement that the report “reads like it was written by Sam Altman and Big Tech lobbyists. It’s heavy on flowery language about ‘innovation’ and pathetic when it comes to substantive issues around discrimination, civil rights, and preventing AI-exacerbated harms.”

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