Scarlett Johansson’s deep, feminine and sexy voice is known around the world. Now, the actress is one of the first major public figures to face a legal battle due to the peculiar and disturbing resemblance of her voice to OpenAI’s new option for ChatGPT, known as Sky.
The company initially sought Johansson to use her voice; after all, many fans remember Johansson from Spike Jonze’s Her — a sci-fi story where Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) begins a romantic relationship with Samantha (Johansson) an AI virtual assistant. But Johansson turned down OpenAI’s offer after consideration, for personal reasons.
Johansson’s lawyers asked the company to disclose how they developed Sky’s voice. Although the statements did not go further, OpenAI representatives said that Sky was created from the voice of another actress, but did not disclose her name to protect her identity. In the meantime, they put the product on hold for a few weeks to clarify the situation.
In a world where technology is evolving so fast and cyberspace is full of misinformation and deepfakes, doubt remains.
The voice is very similar as Johansson herself has said. “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. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity.”
Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8
— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024
Johansson isn’t the only one who has gone through issues with AI, others are even more disturbing and involve images of underage girls. At one point, Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) deleted her X (Twitter) account after receiving AI-generated nude photos of herself as a child. “Did I like being 14 and making a Twitter account because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of me as a child? No. It’s terrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting,” Ortega said.
The actress’ non-consensual pornographic images were artificially generated and edited before being posted on social media. Xochitl Gomez (Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness) experienced similar harassment, which is also becoming increasingly common in classrooms and other everyday settings. The publicity around the celebrity cases has allowed the proliferation of explicit AI-generated images on the internet to be taken a little more seriously and to push for action, although legal protection and support in these cases remain scarce.
This was discovered by Taylor Swift a few months ago when photographs unrelated to her concerts went viral. The images that quickly flooded X were sexually explicit and created with AI.
Social media is not the only one with these deepfakes, selling platforms such as eBay have kept in stock explicit photographs of dozens of celebrities including Selena Gomez, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lawrence, Jenna Ortega, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Gal Gaddot. Sellers usually ask around six dollars for these explicit images.
Companies are lagging behind in their policies, as although some prohibit explicit nudity, they still do not have controls over deepfakes without nudity. It seems many believe that if the content is created with AI, it should not answer to the law. However, we may just be in a gray period where things are unclear. Hollywood stars are helping to bring these boundaries into focus to prevent internet harassment and the use of a person’s image for the profit of a third party.
One of those who has recently become involved in this fight is actor Tom Hanks who discovered that a voice similar to his own is being used to promote products without his consent. The actor warned in a statement that he has nothing to do with the dental plans and miracle drugs that the AI-generated voice promotes.
Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum have also weighed into the discussion during the promotion of their recent film Fly Me to the Moon. The actors wonder how the work will affect workers in the industry and the rest of the world — who are vulnerable and lack personal and workplace protection.
These cases only increase fears about AI. How much can AI do without people’s consent? The revolutionary technology can make great advances in science, medicine and other fields to help improve the quality of human life. Unfortunately, while AI is neutral, it depends on who is behind it.
Images: Gage Skidmore, Harald Krichel, Eva Rinaldi
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