Scarlett Johansson has taken a vocal stand on artificial intelligence, after having her likeness and voice used without permission.
Last year, Johansson said she had been asked to voice OpenAI’s Chatbot by CEO Sam Altman, but turned down the job, only for people to notice that the feature, named “Sky,” sounded almost exactly like the actress.
“Particularly with the A.I. piece. It was like: If that can happen to me, how are we going to protect ourselves from this? There’s no boundary here; we’re setting ourselves up to be taken advantage of,” the 40-year-old told InStyle Magazine earlier this month.
In a statement to NPR following the release of “Sky,” Johansson said, “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. 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.”
The “Black Widow” star’s legal team sent OpenAI letters asking it to explain how the AI assistant’s voice came to be, and the company later agreed to take down “Sky.”
Altman later issued a statement to FOX Business regarding “Sky’s” voice.
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. 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,” the statement said.
Speaking with InStyle, Johansson said she’s become a reluctant voice in the AI conversation but won’t back down either.
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“I don’t need to be beating the drum the whole time. That’s not my place. But, also, I’m not afraid of being invalidated,” she said.
Johansson added that after a Hollywood career that began as a child, she’s not shy about speaking up for herself.
“But now I see that actually I built something that… that I have a place here. And because of that, I’ve been able to stand up for myself and not feel like I would disappear. I can shoulder it.”
“The Avengers” star also took legal action in 2023 against an AI image-generating app called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar for using her voice and likeness in an ad posted on X.
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Johansson’s attorney told the outlet, “We do not take these things lightly. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have.”
The “Marriage Story” star is just one of many in Hollywood who are taking action when it comes to their likeness being used by AI.
“Family Feud” host Steve Harvey has taken the step of partnering with a company, Vermillio, an AI licensing and protection platform, to protect fans from potential fraud and scams.
“In today’s digital age, keeping up with the scammers using my likeness across all of the platforms is an impossible task,” Harvey said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “My primary concern is to make sure my fans don’t fall victim to these schemes. Partnering with Vermillio gives me the tools to both protect my personal brand and more importantly, my fans while embracing the future of AI the right way – with consent and control.”
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“Steve Harvey’s partnership with Vermillio reflects a powerful vision for the future of talent and AI,” Dan Neely, Co-Founder & CEO of Vermillio, said. “With TraceID, Steve is not only protecting his own legacy but also the wellbeing of his many fans. He’s leading the way in showing how the most beloved public figures can responsibly engage with AI.”
Vermillio monitors internet and generative AI models for misuse of Harvey’s name, image, and likeness, and can automatically remove unauthorized content to hopefully limit the impact of scams.
Celine Dion is another star who had to recently speak out to warn fans about unauthorized AI-generated music.
In a post on Instagram last week, a statement from Dion and her team read, “It has come to our attention that unsanctioned, AI-generated music purporting to contain Celine Dion’s musical performances, and name and likeness, is currently circulating online and across various Digital Service Providers.”
It continued, “Please be advised that these recordings are fake and not approved, and are not songs from her official discography.”
