The actress, who accused the ChatGPT update of using an impersonation of her voice, says she declined to provide her own because “it went against my principles.”
Scarlett Johansson condemned OpenAI and deepfake technology, saying this was “so disturbing” and “I’m so mad” about the incident where she felt that company parodied back her voice for its ChatGPT system Sky.
Earlier this year, the actress made headlines after publicly disclosing that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, reached out to her in September 2023 to be the voice behind Sky in what he referred to as an homage to her character from Spike Jones’ movie Her. However, she turned down his request on “personal grounds.” In May when Sky was launched by the company Altman tweeted simply “her.”
After Johansson released her statement publicly and had lawyers from her team reach out to OpenAI regarding taking down sky’s Voice, they did ,however maintained that ‘Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice’.
It is only another lawsuit waiting to happen around artificial intelligence (AI) following Scarlett Johansson’s encounter with OpenAI
Altman later said there was an actor hired who provided the voice for sky before he approached Johanson to become an additional sixth speaker; however, he apologized towards Johansen while stating that it had paused sky “out of respect for” her.
In a conversation with New York Times, she highlighted that“I’ve actively been avoiding these discussions which is what was even more crazy about it all. I was like how did I get wrapped up in this? It seemed insane. I was so angry.’
“I just didn’t want to be at the front-lines of that,” she added. “It just wasn’t in line with my principles. I don’t kiss and tell. He came to me with this and I didn’t tell anybody except my husband … I also felt for my children it would be strange. I try to be mindful of them.”
Johansson described deepfake technology as “a dark wormhole that you can never climb your way out of.”
“Here’s the thing, when you’re trying to take it down from one place, another part is going to pop up within seconds. There are other countries that have different legislation and rules. Your whole life will be ruined by things like revenge porn or especially deepfake ones,” she explained.
“I believe technology moves faster than our fragile human egos can handle, and we see the effects everywhere mainly among young people too. That kind of wave is coming in this technology.”
When asked if Altman could make a good Marvel villain, Johansson said: “I think he actually could – maybe with a robotic arm.”
Johansson’s public feud with OpenAI came three years after her legal battle with Disney over the release of her Marvel movie Black Widow, which was released in theaters and on streaming service Disney+ during the pandemic. Johansson claimed that her contract restricted Black Widow’s release exclusively to theaters since her pay depended on the film’s box office success and hybrid premiere by Disney would affect her earnings (compensation).
Disney’s initial reaction was unexpectedly combative, taking the unusual step of revealing Johansson’s upfront fee of $20m. The studio called as misogynistic.
Finally, after a lot of back and forth they settled for an undisclosed amount while Deadline has reported that Disney will be paying Johansson more than US$40m (£29.7m, A$59.5m).
Talking to New York Times about that fight, Johansson opined: “I don’t hold a grudge [against Disney]. I think it was just poor judgment and poor leadership at that time. It just felt very unprofessional to me, the entire ordeal. And honestly? I was incredibly disappointed especially because I kept hoping until later when my team said ‘You have to act’.”
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