Scarlett Johansson / OpenAI "Sky" Voice Controversy

Overview

Scarlett Johansson / OpenAI "Sky" Voice Controversy refers to the backlash surrounding the release of the ChatGPT-4o demo that featured an AI human voice the company named "Sky." The voice drew strong comparisons to the film Her in which a lonely man develops romantic feelings for an AI voice assistant played by Scarlett Johansson. A week after the tech demo was released, Johansson claimed Sam Altman of OpenAI sought her out to voice "Sky," and when she refused, the company created a voice intentionally similar to her own. When she threatened legal action, OpenAI removed "Sky" to address the issue. The controversy emerged online in May 2024, sparking widespread discussions and media coverage.

Background

On May 13th, 2024, OpenAI released a tech demo of ChatGPT-4o, which featured a realistic human female voice companion the company dubbed "Sky" (demo shown below).

The voice seemed to be inspired by Scarlett Johansson's character in Her, which was also a realistic human female voice, and many joked about the similarity upon release. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed to acknowledge this, tweeting the word "her" on May 13th^[1] (shown below).

Developments

On May 19th, 2024, OpenAI released a blog post^[4] addressing concerns about how they created the voice of "Sky" and other AI voice programs. It stated all of the voices were performed by voice actors, whose names the company did not release. OpenAI stated that Sky's voice was not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but that of a different, unnamed actress.

On May 20th, Johansson shared a letter to news outlets^[2][3] in which she alleged that eight months before the release of the ChatGPT-4o demo, Sam Altman contacted her with an offer to voice Sky, which she refused. She iterated that she believes Altman set out to create an identical voice to hers without her consent, and that Altman tweeting "her" amounted to an admission of his intent. She stated that she hired legal counsel and demanded that OpenAI detail how they created the "Sky" voice. As a result, OpenAI removed "Sky" to further work on it (letter shown below).

Johansson's letter inspired intense criticism of OpenAI and artificial intelligence in general. For example, on May 21st, 2024, Twitter / X user @VoicesByZane^[5] tweeted, "This technology is built on theft, disrespect, and refusing to acknowledge consent. There is no coexistence with GenAI. It's bad tech made by bad people." The post gained over 780 retweets and 2,200 likes in two hours (shown below, left).

On May 20th, X user @IwriteOK^[6] stated the controversy proved that "Altman's goal is to basically steal the rights to the entire creative output of the human race." The post gained over 1,200 retweets and 5,900 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

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External References