Scarlett Johansson Raises Concerns: Voice of OpenAI's 'Sky' Sounds Like Hers

Actor Scarlett Johansson has accused OpenAI of using a voice that sounds very similar to hers for their new ChatGPT 4.0 chatbot, despite the fact that she declined the company's request to use her voice.

Johansson said she received an offer from OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, last September. "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," Johansson explained.

However, she declined the offer for personal reasons.

Nine months later, Johansson and others noticed that one of the new chatbot voices, named 'Sky', sounded strikingly like her. OpenAI launched the new voice features last week, including the 'Sky' voice.

In response to Johansson's concerns, OpenAI announced it would no longer use the 'Sky' voice, but claimed it was not an imitation of Johansson's.

"The Sky voice is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers," Altman stated, according to a Bloomberg report.

He explained that the voice was recorded by a different professional actress, and the company had cast this voice before approaching Johansson.

Johansson expressed her shock and frustration, noting that even her friends and the media couldn't distinguish between her voice and the chatbot's.

OpenAI has replaced the 'Sky' voice with a new voice called 'Juniper'. The company emphasised that they do not intend to mimic any celebrity voices and that they had worked with professional voice actors to create the voices for their chatbot.