Scarlett Johansson ‘shocked, angered’ over ‘eerily similar’ ChatGPT voice

Scarlett Johansson said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told her that her voice would be "comforting to people."

Though she may have once voiced a fictional operating system in the movie Her, Scarlett Johansson said she has no interest in speaking for real-life artificial intelligence (AI).

On Monday, Johansson said a newly released ChatGPT voice, named “Sky,” sounded “eerily similar” to her. The AI voice “shocked” and “angered” Johansson, 39, who revealed that nine months ago she declined an offer from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to work on their new voice chatbot.

The voice, alongside four others, was created for the current ChatGPT 4.0 system and was released last week.

The company announced on Monday it would pause the use of Sky after it was widely compared to Johansson. OpenAI did not specify why it opted to silence Sky.

“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson wrote in a statement, which was shared by NBC News.

“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,” she continued. “He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”

After consideration, Johansson said she declined to work with OpenAI for “personal reasons.”

“Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me,” she wrote. “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.”