Scarlett Johansson does not want to be Her.
The Black Widow star called out OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for allegedly using a voice in its artificial intelligence software that she believes sounds like her own without her consent, she said in a statement her rep issued to NBC News May 20. According to Johansson, the businessman sent her an offer in September to hire to her as the voice of the ChatGPT 4.0 system, but she turned it down.
“He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people,” she said. “After much consideration and for personal reasons, declined the offer.”
However, Johansson accused the company going ahead with it by using a voice that “sounded like me” without her consent on their new system called “Sky,” even saying that her “friends, family and the general public all noted” similarities.
“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,” the 39-year-old continued. “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.” (Altman tweeted the word on May 13.)
