Scarlett Johansson ‘shocked’ and ‘angry’ over voice controversy

Scarlett Johansson has reacted to OpenAI’s launch of a chatbot whose voice is “eerily similar” to her own.

The AI ​​voice controversy began earlier this month when the company unveiled a chatbot voice called Sky, which some quickly compared to Johansson’s role in the 2013 film “Her.”

In Spike Jonze’s romantic comedy-drama series, Joaquin Phoenix’s character Theodore falls in love with his virtual assistant Samantha, whose voice was provided by Johansson.

While OpenAI removed Sky’s voice and insisted that it was not intended as an imitation of Johansson, the Marvel star accused the company and its founder Sam Altman of copying her voice.

Related: Scarlett Johansson to star in new Jurassic World movie

“When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angry and couldn’t believe that Mr. Altman was aiming for a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine,” Johansson wrote in a statement (via BBC News).

“Mr. Altman even suggested that the resemblance was intentional by tweeting a single word: ‘she’ – a reference to the film in which I lent my voice to a chat system called Samantha who develops an intimate relationship with a human being.”

Johansson said she was initially approached by OpenAI to lend her voice to the new chatbot, but declined.

“(Altman) told me he felt that by adding my voice to the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers feel comfortable with the seismic shift around people and AI,” she said.

“He said he felt my voice would bring comfort to people.”

Related: Disney boss confirms plans to ‘cut back’ Marvel releases

Johansson said she had to hire lawyers and instructed them to send two letters to OpenAI to investigate whether Sky’s voice was based on her own.

“At a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identity, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity,” Johansson added.

Altman, for his part, insists that it was never Sky’s intention to imitate the Oscar-nominated star and that a voice actor had already been selected before contacting Johansson.

“Sky’s voice is not that of Scarlett Johansson and was never intended to resemble hers,” he wrote.

“We selected the voice actor for Sky before approaching Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have suspended the use of Sky’s voice in our products.

“We are sorry, Ms. Johansson, that we did not communicate better.”

You might like it too