So what does Sam Altman must say about the truth that Scarlett Johansson turned down a gig the place she would supply her voice to OpenAI, just for the corporate to make use of a voice that sounds uncannily like her? He flat-out denied that it was ever meant to duplicate Johansson’s voice. “The voice of Sky is just not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was by no means meant to resemble hers,” Altman mentioned in an announcement. “We forged the voice actor behind Sky’s voice earlier than any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we now have paused utilizing Sky’s voice in our merchandise. We’re sorry to Ms. Johansson that we did not talk higher.”
The corporate did cease utilizing the voice of “Sky,” which Johansson believes sounds similar to her, and the corporate itself additionally launched an announcement making an attempt to make clear that Sky’s voice was offered by an unnamed actor. “We consider that AI voices mustn’t intentionally mimic a celeb’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is just not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson however belongs to a special skilled actress utilizing her personal pure talking voice,” OpenAI mentioned within the assertion.
Whereas these statements do deal with Johansson’s extraordinarily particular considerations, this whole scenario brings up an even bigger dialog, which is how simply AI instruments can be utilized to mimic public figures. To that time, the sort of downside was an enormous a part of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes that shook up the business in 2023.