Scarlett Johansson Lashes Out At The AI Company Copying Her Best Performance

Here's some free advice for the day: If you're a multimillion-dollar corporation looking to exploit human beings for profit, maybe don't try pulling that kind of stunt with Scarlett Johansson, of all people? Disney learned this the hard way back in the summer of 2021, when the studio used the pandemic as an excuse to turn the release of Marvel's "Black Widow" into a day-and-date premiere both in theaters and on Disney+ streaming ... and subsequently found themselves in breach of the lead actor's contract. When Johansson took the unprecedented step of filing a lawsuit against one of the biggest and most powerful conglomerates in the world for going back on what should've been an exclusive theatrical window, Disney ended up settling the case out of court and handed the movie star an unmitigated victory. Now, it's apparently artificial-intelligence company OpenAI's turn to mess around and find out.

The proliferation of artificial intelligence has remained a hot-button issue in the entertainment industry for quite some time now, but this latest development marks arguably the most significant escalation since the WGA and SAG-AFTRA guilds secured protections against AI use as a result of their duel strikes. In a twist that suddenly makes a movie like 2013's "Her" feel even more dystopian than it already was, which starred the actor as the voice of an artificial intelligence operating system named Samantha, it turns out that OpenAI is now in some serious hot water for attempting to steal Johansson's likeness without permission — in this case, her extremely distinctive voice — for their newest ChatGPT voice model, called Sky. The actor took notice of the similarities and responded in kind, releasing the following explosive statement:

Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024

If it wasn't already clear that artificial intelligence is little more than mass corporate theft masked as innovation, this latest turn of events should clear up any lingering confusion. According to The Hollywood Reporter, OpenAI has now opted to "pause" the operation of the Sky voice that sounds eerily reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson. In a social media post, the AI company sheepishly acknowledged the rising number of "...questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky" and, despite insisting that their process is entirely supportive of the "creative community" and voice actors in general, promised to cease and desist — presumably out of pure altruism, naturally.

Unsurprisingly, Johansson's version of events paints a slightly different picture. In her statement, the actor accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman of first contacting her to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 model nine months ago, which she respectfully declined. When Sky was officially unveiled at a recent demo, however, nobody could fail to notice the overt similarities between the unnamed actor allegedly chosen to voice the AI system and Johansson's own unmistakable voice. Only when the movie star lawyered up and requested Altman to explain how he selected the voice for Sky did OpenAI "reluctantly" remove the voice as an option.

For their part, OpenAI claims that, "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." That's all well and good, but Altman may have given away the game himself. In a tweet posted during the demo, Altman referenced the movie "Her" and all but invited comparisons to Johansson's voice role. Something tells us we haven't heard the last of this controversy.