OpenAI Will ‘Pause’ Use of Voice That Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson

OpenAI says its “Sky” voice for ChatGPT’s Voice Mode is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson’s voice. It is instead the “natural speaking voice” of one of its compensated voice talents, per a blog post. Still, the company says it will “pause” the availability of Sky while it addresses the issue.

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

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OpenAI stated that they employ “well-known, award-winning” casting directors and producers to cast voice actors for the products.

But some users of the OpenAI tech questioned whether Sky was Scarlett — or at least trying to replicate her famous voice. Johansson previously voiced a fake AI bot in Spike Jonze’s prophetic film “Her.”

“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” the company posted in relation to the Johansson-sounding voice. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.”

OpenAI released a demo of the ChatGPT 4o model, which includes Voice Mode, in May 2024.

This isn’t Johansson’s first battle over an AI version of her voice. She took legal action against AI app Lisa AI after the company allegedly illegally used her name and likeness in a marketing campaign.

The ad included a clip of Johansson behind the scenes on “Black Widow” saying, “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me…”

A voice then appears to imitate Johansson’s with, “It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it.”

The ad included the note, “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”

Johansson’s attorney Kevin Yorn confirmed that Johansson is not a spokesperson for the app and that the clip was used without her consent.

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