Scarlett Johansson demands answers after OpenAI releases voice "eerily similar" to hers

Scarlett Johansson is demanding answers from OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, after it released a ChatGPT voice that she says sounds "eerily similar" to her own. Johansson claims she declined Altman's offer for her to voice the product. Jo Ling Kent has the detials.
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[@cultureclique2173]

Im gonna sue too.

[@legendre007]

I hope that Scarlett Johansson can bring attention to how other, less influential artists, like Sarah Andersen, have had their intellectual property rights violated by AI companies.

[@thedannybseries8857]

There’s zero intellectual property rights violations in this case lol

[@DevPythonUnity]

what intellectual property? the voice comes from another paid voice over actor, No recordings of SJ, were used in training, S.J should acctualy be fined with foulty accusations

[@jumpy2783]

Really? You don't think they used ANY clips of Scarlett's voice to produce this? ​@@DevPythonUnity For both her and her own family to think it's her, you gotta be kidding. Plus, how do you even know that

[@DevPythonUnity]

@@jumpy2783 1, The voice is objectivly different, but a bit simmilar, 2 if it was 100% the same but data came from different voice over actores it still would be OK,, SJ, can not monopolises tonality of voice since there are bilions of peoples and some of them have similar or even the same voice tonality... I can think that mause can walk on the moon, but it wont make it true

[@phredbookley183]

Artists had the same reaction: No credit. No consent. No compensation.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Yup. But 99% of them aren't wealthy, powerful, influential, connected, etc. Johanssen's riches and fame could allow her the ability to fight.

[@joannot6706]

The actress that was hired as a voice actor (not Scarjo who declined) was paid for her work, what are you talking about?

[@ithamarlowe6158]

Pretty soon there will be no need for real people anymore. The person behind this is crazy.

[@rufanuf1]

@@Novastar.SaberCombat Her riches ought to allow her to let it go.

[@Chriby-zp7mx]

That literally sounds like a million other white women.

[@mehnameehjeff6325]

8 billion humans on Earth assuming half are women it is funny she thinks she’s the only one it sounds like.

[@leok7193]

@@mehnameehjeff6325 How many of those ~4 billion speak English, with her accent and voice qualities, around the same age? Maybe a few million can mimic her with effort, and maybe a few hundred can have a similar sounding voice naturally, so the odds aren't as good as you seem to think. That said, it's going to need a legal ruling to delineate legitimate artistic expression (even by AI) from the original product. If I paint a copy of van-gough picture with my minimal skills, and use a poor photocopy to base it off, then mess up on some colors and composition, at some point it's at best a tribute and not infringement on someone's likness

[@Viviorkogaming]

Pull your head out your backside and listen again.

[@disastermaster1413]

Wait for snl lol

[@ydne]

She probably found out about it on last week's Weekend Update.

[@aaronwelling2251]

The season's over. Sorry!

[@dizzlebizzle8424]

if i had to judge, the sample used in this video doesn't sound enough like her for me to say that OpenAI is guilty of stealing her actual voice. I would say it sounds "like" her just like many women that exist who have voices do, but I truly wouldn't have thought that was her voice if I didn't already know it wasn't and I'm honestly not sure if the similarity would have caused me to express the fact that it sounds similar to her if I had heard it without the context. I also have no doubt that they probably programmed it using her as some portion of the base but I only don't doubt that because of all the information I have now and not because of what I hear when I hear the voice in this clip.

[@EchoMountain47]

Exactly! This whole controversy illustrates the power of suggestion. It basically started with one joke on SNL over the weekend, it caught fire, and now suddenly everybody and their mother thinks the robot sounds just like Scarlett Johansson. This voice, sky, has been available on ChatGPT for like eight months and I’ve never heard anybody make a stink about it Until now

[@trutenantedboderampt]

It wouldn't be an issue if the CEO hadn't publicly written the word 'her' on X platform after the presentation and hadn't asked her to be the voice of Sky a few times before. Basically, it's due to reckless management. Now they have had this voice removed. But, I think, Sky isn't the best thing OpenAI has to offer. They can easily be successful without it.

[@Duncanate]

Same. I do not hear Scarlett when it talks. It's all BS publicity.

[@kevint1911]

@@trutenantedboderamptI never would have “recognized” this voice as being similar to Scarlett, but it is very telling to me that they elected to stop using the voice out of respect for Johansen. If they didn’t copy or imitate her voice then why would they stop using it? I haven’t seen the movie “Her” so maybe the similarity would be more obvious with that movie experience in mind.

[@Ben_D.]

If she declines the offer to work with OAI, then she has no say in who they turn to next. They had a style they wanted, and the voice actor they found fit the bill. ScarJo should not get to crush the career of an up and coming voice actor. 'I dont want this role, and you cant have it either'.

[@DevPythonUnity]

S.J is just evil breat that should not be casted

[@DanBrown96]

Altman gave himself away. If I'd just heard that voice, I wouldn't have thought it was Scar Jo. But he left a trail of breadcrumbs, enough for her to make a case.

[@joannot6706]

You are right the voice barely sounds like her if at all, because it's not her voice it's another actress's natural voice that was paid for her job 🤷🏾‍♂️ She has zero case, just weird accusations that are borderline actionable for diffamation

[@neverclevernorwitty7821]

Nope, maybe Annapurna Pictures and Warner Brothers do, but SJ has no legal claim. She doesn't not own the rights to the characters she portrays.

[@wjrneo2]

@@neverclevernorwitty7821 She has rights to her likeness, and that includes not only visual, but audio as well. Imagine if an AI was based on Christopher Walken or Joe Pesci. AI can and DOES mimic people's voices well enough to confuse people. Its not in the voice itself, but in the cadence of speech that most give themselves away as artificial. I do agree with others that the voice clips in the video aren't 100% conclusive. The first clip is very close. But the second is not. MS's Cortana is based on Jenn Taylor of Halo voicing Cortana. And you can 100% tell. It speaks with the same pitch and similar cadence from dialogue lines in Halo.

[@DevPythonUnity]

@@wjrneo2 there is nothing special about SJ voice, Most good voice over actrees can do the same, Therefor there is no intelecualr property or trademark, Only recordings of SJ could be protected but not the tonality of the voice

[@babybirdhome]

@@wjrneo2Microsoft literally used the same voice actress for Cortana and she was paid for it on purpose because they were naming their assistant Cortana because they wanted it to emulate Cortana from the video game. It’s a direct tie that was done on purpose - they already owned the intellectual property for the Cortana character and all the recordings of Cortana for the games. This one doesn’t sound like Scarlett Johansson to me at all - they’re completely different, albeit similar, voices. But with over 7 billion people in the world, you can’t just “own” the sound of one person’s voice when there are probably another 100,000 people in the world with the exact same sounding voice who just haven’t been heard by anyone because they’re normal people and not movie stars. I don’t think she really has a case here at all - it’ll be easy for them to win in court. However, there still is a very real problem with AI “training” on basically whatever it finds on the internet and then “copying” and “creating” everything it does based on other people’s work without anyone’s permission. That one is going to be a very complicated court case, because AI is basically being trained the same way every single human being is trained, but it’s never been illegal to go to an art museum as a kid and be inspired to become an artist as an adult where everything you create is by nature inspired by everything you’ve experienced that was made by others that you’re adapting and copying without their consent.

[@coryknedler]

Every time I hear this AI voice I think it sounds like Kristen Wiig doing a character voice and it makes me laugh.

[@ChrstphreCampbell]

Is Scarlett claiming that everyone in The world that sounds vaguely like her is infringing on her tacitly trademarked voice ?

[@SgtJoeSmith]

probably few hundred others that sound like her too

[@jhwhthemerciful]

Make that millions. At least 2 billion woman in the world (children exluded). If you take 0.1% of those voices most similar to that of Scarlett you have something like OpenAI's Sky's voice.

[@EchoMountain47]

Scarlett Johansson demands answers. OK, here’s your answer, Scarlet: they offered you the job, you turned it down, they hired another lady and she did the job. She happens to sound similar to you, but that’s not a crime, and you aren’t the only woman in the universe to have a husky, animated voice. Get over yourself

[@denniszenanywhere]

It's clearly a variation of her voice. It's like writing a story, but a few words were changed. This is the equivalent of plagiarism but in this case, voice plagiarism -- trying to get away with a slight tweak in her voice. I'm not defending Scarlett here but if you've not noticed, there was an interview with an exec who didn't know how to respond when asked if they got data from KZbin content -- videos and comments and all -- to improve their AI system. All of us -- our content -- will be harvested for AI. Being in denial will only encourage companies to overstep.

[@javiruiz8365]

Lol!

[@videogamecin]

@@denniszenanywhere lmfao you can't blame nature for plagiarism, what if scarjo had a secret twin she didn't know about until now? you can't monopolize a certain voice. they didn't use her own recorded media, they hired someone else who happens to sound like scarjo: or maybe scarjo sounds like her!

[@nemesiswes426]

​@@denniszenanywhere If your ears are broken, maybe it then sounds exactly like her but a little off. To me it sounds a little like her, lots of people sound a little like her. Also so what if they harvested all the youtube content. It's all freely available for anyone to use. It might violate google's policies but I am not sure if that's a crime. Is it a crime if I learn to make art in the style of some artist? No its not, as long as my art is not a copy. Is it a crime if I learn to imitate someone's voice and never claim to be them even if I work in the same industry as them? What if I was born with that voice? Clearly the answer has to be no as long I don't claim to be them. What happens when AI is sentient and self aware, essentially a person in digital form? It will be capable of learning and then imitating anybodys voice, art, style of writing etc... Not coping but the style of it? Which is pretty much whats happening here.

[@johncote2776]

how bout ClosedAi

[@sethmoneygetter7140]

Right

[@Moodboard39]

Created more problems with stupid Ai now

[@BenSkyLakewood]

She's dead wrong doesn't sound like her at all

[@Mainneli]

Lol I'm shocked too

[@jumpy2783]

Idk many people disagree apparently

[@2beJT]

She doesn't get to own every flirty girl voice.

[@thedannybseries8857]

Amen!

[@josefmanga]

It's similar but I do detect some differences. Such as in certain spots the voice register is a little lower.

[@Squaredot01]

That doesn't sound anything like Scarlett lol

[@lanabyk8012]

We are a mix of voices. Why are you using my voice? I think you are!

[@slindrik420]

While it's safe to say that our voices are our own. This doesn't go on to say that there isn't another with the same tonal range. Which is most likely possible. This is why we think singers sound like other singers when we hear similarities. Or when we hear a voice on tv that sounds like another.

[@DevPythonUnity]

there are over 35 000 0000 females on the planet, each of tme have own voice, but the range of sound they can produce is limited . Its like forbiding a signer to sing becases he /she has similar voice

[@user-ly6pl3bk7j]

What a narcissist. Doesn't sound like her at all.

[@Manava2012]

huh is a voice inherently copy right protected? Strange world we live in. What if 2 people have same voice. I am sure there is no case here they can pay mimic artist to sound exactly like her and say we got her consent to record.

[@nemesiswes426]

Right, get somebody that sounds exactly like her and pay that person for their voice rights, lmao. As long as it never claims to be her, there fine.

[@FMFvideos]

lol it doesn't even sound like her. It sounds more like Rashida Jones.

[@Izumi-sp6fp]

I don’t think she sounds like Scarlett Johansson. I think she sounds like Dean Hagemeyer from young Sheldon. Scarlett Johansson’s voice in the motion picture “Her”, does not sound like the female voice that I saw on the release video.

[@ithamarlowe6158]

Now this is fk’d up!

[@kitjones6896]

People who do impressions copy voices too. It's just an ability same with AI.

[@BrandonNinja]

You get money because your voice is similar. Similar doesn't mean exact.

[@holland_a_march]

Why didn't they use Rosanne's voice 🤣

[@Zelkyplant]

Oh God the poor actors. They still aren't rich enough.

[@amardaswani81]

If she wins a case, ill open a law firm and im not even a lawyer. Motto: "If you speak, you can sue"

[@lgarcia67]

Yeah my company block it completely for this reason. We don’t want one of our employees to copy content produced by OpenAI and then our company gets sued. The other thing they saw is that someone can post sensitive information to openai and not only they keep it; but they use to analyze and respond to other queries. It is great technology; but not matured in the legal sense. I hope they clean that out

[@kenmahoney5255]

Doesn't sound like her at all

[@M3Vader]

Yes it does

[@kenmahoney5255]

@@M3Vader no it doesn't. Clean out your ears.

[@EchoMountain47]

I was saying the same thing until I heard a few more clips of that latest OpenAI demo. It does sound pretty reminiscent of her… But it was a different voice actor who was using her own natural voice, and while I see the similarities, it’s stil clearly not Voice cloning or anything like that. I don’t know how you can sue somebody because the voice actor they hired sounds similar to somebody else

[@garygerard4290]

I doubt anyone knows what her voice sounds like. She's cute - 'would do well to wash her face

[@javiruiz8365]

I actually have no idea what she sounds like!! 🤷‍♂️👀😂

[@beerussama7093]

That sounds like me… I think I’ll sue as well.

[@2KGrind09]

It's sad ppl will accept this without thinking about consequences

[@Shmancyfancy536]

Thats what humans do

[@Painting866]

Don’t give a damn. We’ve dealt with worse. Oh, please.

[@I.Know.More.Than.You.]

yes. this is def an area where "cry harder" is needed. like the nuke, someone is going to push this. you want chinese ai? sweedish ai? 🤣🤣🤣 ours is going to be way to woke and progressive tho 🙃

[@mizzury54]

It doesn't affect them so they don't care

[@user-wh6yx4kr7z]

There are so many people around the world that sounds like Scarlett Johansson. Or Scarlett Johansson sounds like other people. It does not sound like her though.

[@user-fv8cy9gj6b]

And eerily similar to motivational speakers

[@ricisipjr]

voice talents can mimic celebrity voices, i don't think scarlett johansson can sue for the similarity.

[@Paul_425]

Nature had the same reaction. NO CREDIT. NO CONSENT, NO compensation

[@robertward8035]

Can't wait to see what they do on SNL with this....

[@herlandercarvalho]

The clip they have used in here is not particularly similar. I have heard others that sound like Johansson a lot more, and considering all the revelations we had from her, I would say that OpenAI had without question, the intent of emulating in a similar fashion, her voice. Not to mention, why would Altman contact her a second time, 2 days prior to the ChatGPT 4.o release? He knew what was going to happen and was trying to avoid a PR nightmare. Also, I think that it is a bit too much coincidence that the name chosen for the AI voice, Sky, is an amalgamation of Scarlett+AI... Sc+AI... ScAI. AI in latin, reads like the Y in the work SKY. If I was asked to read the word SCAI in Latin, it would sound exactly like SKY. I honestly do not believe that was just a mere coincidence, at all.

[@EchoMountain47]

The first part of your comment is reasonable enough but then you start losing me with the whole sky/Scarlet thing lol. I think you’re reaching, there

[@justcallmebrian793]

Plus the voice been around for over 8 months, and from my perspective especially living in Southern California the voices is not the same.

[@ohmygollywow]

You don't need to invoke Latin to pronounce ScAI as Sky. 😂

[@cobracommander8133]

The ChatGPT Sky voice is Rashida Jones.

[@andrewgordon235]

A lot of women sound the same they would have to prove it's 1 for 1 identical. An octave higher or lower and it's a different voice.

[@tommorales2371]

She should be honored, shes a goofy woman.

[@adriangrant1746]

So.. did Scarlet replied.?

[@micheleboyle3547]

Whatever happened to “ no means no” …..this AI stuff is so controversial….😮

[@Moodboard39]

Blame the founder lol

[@staunchlyspeaking]

This is just the beginning. Get used to it folks.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Exactly. There are ZERO laws in place. Rich people can fight back against the rich A.I. CEOs, but the other 99% of the world's population can do exactly jack and sheet.

[@DoctorPlay]

To the people saying it sounds like her it doesn’t. Does it sound similar? Yes. Does it sound just like her? No. So stop the dumb shi*. Enough.

[@achach228]

That doesn’t sound like her

[@user-xr8lc7sn4h]

I don't hear it.

[@ohmygollywow]

Samantha?!

[@teddysurf]

… this is at the top of the list on things I could care less about.

[@thedannybseries8857]

The voice actor behind Sky must be having a real hard time I can imagine because of poor princess Scarlett. The latter is really after that money. Typical celebrity.

[@sarahsmthrox]

Great movie ya'll!!!

[@mchammer5592]

Alright, alight, you can use my voice. I’ll take payment in stretchers and subway gift cards.

[@JohnDoe-rk7ex]

Cant believe Scarlet is half deaf to not tell the different between openai sky and her voice. Geez!!

[@memzo_getR]

In theory if I have voice similiar to her, am I gonna get sued? Lmao

[@neverclevernorwitty7821]

Here's the deal as I see it. If we believe all sides, both OpenAI and SJ, SJ declined to participate and OpenAI hired another party to voice the "Sky" voice that perhaps sometimes sounds very similar to SJ in the "Her' movie. This is a nothing burger. SJ has no case since she does NOT own the rights to the voice in the movie, Annapurna and Warner Brothers do. There are thousands of voices that can sound "similar" to SJ, sorry not going to simp for SJ on this one.

[@danreyes736]

her

[@bzzi]

Sky’s voice is NOTHING like Scarlets. Nothing. Now, the best voice of ChatGPT is gone, because of egos.

[@desireemariec1108]

Scarlett, gifted and beautiful. Respect.

[@Adam35779]

Sky's voice is nothing like Scarlett Johansson's

[@redballoonluke]

he blew it with the tweet silly sausage

[@parker75]

Sounds nothing like her. Obviously she hasn't got enough money already.

[@Loommy203]

Isn’t ever celeb voice on ai with no issues except Scarlett, is just for fun take a chill pill

[@kellycuckoo3143]

It does sound like her.

[@SpudHead42]

Shame on you CBS. You’re fear mongering. It’s not her voice and nobody is stealing it. It’s the same voice they’ve been using for a very long time, they just added simulated emotion. Johansson doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on. I only hope she’s big enough to publicly apologize so openAI can go back to using this amazing feature. And for the haters, this event has nothing to do with stealing from artists.

[@Dr.CumsteinMD]

What baffles me is that these people don't seem to even acknowledge the negative ramifications of utilizing AI. Just because you can do something, doesnt mean you should.

[@Desertfox201]

What if you sound like her and let them use your voice?

[@jasonborne5724]

Altman should just hire a woman that sounds exactly like Johansson, pay her a few bucks and use that voice.

[@silverjames6690]

That doesn’t sounds like her smh

[@GarretGrayCamera]

I wonder why there’s no male voices. It’d be great to have James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman.

[@xxmr.edoodxx5326]

What was more evidence against the ai company was the her tweet and them reaching out to her for participation. Otherwise they could've just denied denied denied. "My software sounds like you? Kick rocks" no judge would've sided with johansen

[@ArabellaPottery]

so you can't convict by photo or voice anymore.

[@ichigen511]

End of days.

[@Burnenwhysee]

This is scumbag behaviour from the very top of openAI. truly disgusting.

[@thedannybseries8857]

Bruh lmfao

[@jz1414]

@jz1414 0 seconds ago Scarlett, its your voice, your voice is YOU, even your very soul. Nobody should be able to take that away from you and if they try or did they should pay for the consequences. Lawfully of course.

[@jordanrocksdj]

Just use Majel Barrett’s voice. I heard that she recorded phonemic words and vowels long before she passed away. I think the everyday consumer would approve.

[@radamschannel6883]

I'm so fed up with AI..inhope scarlett and others make a change

[@LS-kg6my]

Notice all the bots on here saying “it doesn’t sound like her anymore than anyone else”

[@jordanhenshaw]

It doesn’t.

[@bolo2393]

She does realize that she isn't famous for her voice

[@jamespaul1835]

Doesn’t sound the same move on.

[@titusrider7948]

Enjoy the publicity and move on. You will not benefit from pursuing this ! Yes, it is "eerily similar" and there in lies the rub 😮 It is "eerily similar" to the bakery lady at the market too.

[@KevinTumlinson]

We need to tread extremely carefully in this. Using the work of an artist or author to train an AI isn't illegal or even problematic. If the AI literally copies the work, that's already illegal. It's called plagiarism, and we have laws against it. If an AI learns from studying a work, that's not illegal. Humans do this as well. If you attempt to make this illegal, there will be harmful unintended consequences. In the case of replicating someone's voice or likeness, we likewise have laws that regulate this. But again, there's the opportunity to create harmful unintended consequences if we try to regulate this too much. Consider humans who impersonate celebrities as part of an act. If there's a claim that this voice is Scarlett Johansson, or that she endorses it and/or anything it says, there are already laws that regulate this. If it's simply that it "sounds like her," that isn't actually against the existing laws, and creating new laws to prevent this will create more opportunities for harm. The primary argument about this seems to revolve around "they stole the work of artists and aren't even crediting them, and they're making millions." No. They didn't "steal" anything, by any law we currently have. They trained the AI in essentially the same way a human would train to read, write, design, speak, and create music, etc. So consider, if you make that illegal you are literally opening a path for unscrupulous people to exploit that law, just as they've done in the music industry. If you think copyright and patent trolls are bad now, just watch and wait. It won't be long before anything considered "derivative" by a vague and ill defined standard will make even everyday folks culpable to a claim of IP theft.

[@alvilla701]

Sorry for making lots of money and not sharing it with you

[@CuttinBlade]

Scarlett Johansson is out of touch with reality

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Of course! She's SUPER wealthy, popular, well-connected, and has plenty of crews, clout, control, etc. The other 99% on this planet do not.

[@BrianThomas]

The voice from OpenAi is from a human voice actor not Scarlett. You know there are people in the world that sound similar to others in the world. Hell, there are people who look similar if not identical to others.

[@xlo2335]

I dont hear the similarity

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

A Hollywood star FINALLY understands what it feels like to be ripped off. NO OFFENSE TO SCARLETT; I realize that she's pretty awesome. But still... she's out-of-touch as to what it means to be ripped off and have NO MONEY, no power, no connections, no clout, no crews, no *nothing* to help. At the very least, she should be grateful that she'll have the bloody chance to fight back. 99% of the world DOESN'T. They simply need to take it up the arse and allow Altman and other A.I. CEO moguls to push the pickle as far into our colons as they wish. Seriously... YOU HAVE NO CHANCE as compared to Scarlett J.

[@theres1dent]

Much bigger issues going on right under our noses… get a grip

[@inordine8c]

Delulu😅

[@user-yv2yr3xu2w]

It doesn’t sound like her to me.

[@machitect]

Tsk tsk tsk

[@maximusaugustus6823]

it is not that same

[@jamiezenichi1017]

In my opinion, that is ridiculous. It's like having an AI voice have a southern accent, and having an entire demographic suing. Or imagine having an AI customer service voice in India, having an Indian accent and the people of India suing the AI company for copying their accent. And on and on.

[@MICLUMADUATENIDEJAVU]

MICLUMADUATENIDEJAVU Damn that ain't no lie

[@retro_451]

Oh FFS. ANOTHER entitled Hollywood star moaning about nothing. Sky sounds nothing like her. Give me a break.

[@angry.8]

Scarlett said no. Let’s use it anyways, just tweak the voice a little.

[@DevPythonUnity]

but she does not own the tonality of voice, Next what, Forbiding singers to sing becases they sound like each other????

[@desiv1170]

Reminds me of the Ghostbusters song suit. They asked Huey Lewis to do a song for the movie. He says no. Then they ask Ray Parker Jr. to do a song for the movie, that happens to sound a lot more like a Huey Lewis song than a Ray Parker Jr. song. ;-) Huey Lewis won that lawsuit....

[@abo9843]

Neire

[@ZVvereVvolf]

😂 Good luck!

[@user-jn1cz2gs2v]

if you saw the movie "HER" you can understand why they used her voice.