Scarlett Johansson Turns Down OpenAI's Offer, Finds 'Eerily Similar" Voice In ChatGpt

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson revealed that she turned down a request from Open AI which wanted to use her voice for ChatGPT 4o chatbot.

However, she is upset with the company for using a voice that sounded "so eerily similar" to hers. In a detailed statement, the actress said that her legal team asked the company to pull down the voice of Sky, one of the new voices in the GPT-4o chatbot.

"Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people," her statement read.

Johansson claimed that she declined the offer after much consideration due to "personal reasons". She added, "Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named 'Sky' sounded like me".

She further wrote stated, "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 that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference".

Johansson said that she was "forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAl" and asked the company to explain the exact process by which they created the Sky voice.

Consequently, OpenAl "reluctantly agreed to take down the 'Sky' voice", she said.

Scarlett Johansson said there are "questions that deserve absolute clarity" and she looks "forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected."

On the other hand, the company stated that it is stopping the usage of one of its ChatGPT voices.

"We've heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them," the company said in a post on X.

Days ago, OpenAI unveiled its newest language model, GPT-4o. This advanced model has the capability to engage in real-time conversations, and it can also infuse emotion into its voice upon request.