This is kinda creepy.
Actress Scarlett Johansson released a statement this week claiming that the latest version of ChatGPT from OpenAI is using her voice without her permission.
According to her, she had been previously contacted by Sam Altman, the CEO of the company, to offer her voice for the platform and she refused.
Not long after, ChatGPT 4.0 was released, and the voice of the AI sounded eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson.
Here is her statement:
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 Al. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.
After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named 'Sky' sounded like me.
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. Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word 'her' - a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.
Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.
As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAl, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the 'Sky' voice. Consequently, OpenAl reluctantly agreed to take down the 'Sky' voice.
In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.
Sam Altman seems to have been inspired by the movie Her, in which a man falls in love with an AI operating system voiced by Johansson.
He even cryptically tweeted this when ChatGPT 4.0 was released:
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
To drive the point home, someone had ChatGPT 4.0 read Scarlett Johansson's statement in full. Sound familiar?
Uncanny and creepy!
It will be interesting to see how this plays out legally. In a world where we put our voices and likenesses out online every day, how do we stop Big Tech companies from using them for their own purposes?
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