OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Apologizes To Scarlett Johansson Over ChatGPT Voice Controversy But Denies Using Her Vocals

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed Scarlett Johansson's concern over ChatGPT's voice, which she said sounded similar to her.

The "Avengers" actress' legal team sent OpenAI two letters questioning the company after it released its AI voice assistant known as "Sky." Johansson said it "sounded so eerily similar to mine," but Altman denied using her voice or intending Sky to sound like her.

"The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," Altman told Forbes in a statement. "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."

OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati also spoke with NPR and clarified that they did not pattern Sky's voice after Johansson's or her film "Her." Additionally, she insisted that the voice is "not present" and depends on the interaction or "based on inputs."

"It says more about our imagination, our storytelling as a society than about the technology itself," Murati explained. "The way we developed this technology is not based on the movie or a sci-fi story. We're trying to build these machines that can think and have robust understandings of the world."

She also claimed that she wasn't familiar with Johansson's voice.

"I don't know about the voice. I actually had to go and listen to Scarlett Johansson's voice," she added.

The company also released a statement in a blog post late Sunday giving the same response. OpenAI said that the AI voice in question belonged to a voice actress, and they decided not to reveal her identity to protect her privacy.

"We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice -- Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice," the company wrote.

Meanwhile, Johansson issued a statement to NPR detailing the controversy over Sky's voice. According to her, Altman wanted to hire her to voice ChatGPT 4.0 because he believed that the "Black Widow" actress' voice "would be comforting to people" and "could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI."

However, Johansson chose to reject the offer for "personal reasons." But when Sky was released nine months later, her friends, family and the general public reportedly told her that "'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," Johansson said.

"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."

Johansson also claimed that two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Altman contacted her agent, asking her to "reconsider" his offer.

"As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the 'Sky' voice," she continued. "Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the 'Sky' voice."

Johansson clarified that she just wanted protection from deepfakes and her works and likeness being imitated. She concluded her statement by saying she was looking forward to a "resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individuals rights are protected."

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