Scarlett Johansson lashes out at OpenAI over similarity in voice used for Sky in GPT-4o chatbot

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson alleged that the CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman has used a voice extremely similar to hers for Sky which was being used as one of the GPT–4o chatbot. The legal counsel has written a letter to Sam Altman asking them to provide details about the process followed to create the voice. “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. I declined the offer. 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. 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,” Scarlett stated. 

Also Read: Know more on Prafulla Dhariwal, the brains behind OpenAI’s GPT-4o model 

OpenAI has currently pulled down Sky from its interface. Altman has denied allegations of any intention on their part for the voice to resemble Scarlett Johanansson. “We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t communicate better,” Altman highlighted.