OpenAI released its new GPT-4o model last week, featuring a voice that sounded similar to Scarlett Johansson's — even though the actress turned down the company for the job months ago.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asked Johansson to voice ChatGPT's update, GPT-4o, in September to help the general public feel more comfortable with the changes brought by AI, according to a STATEMENT Johansson was released on Monday.

She turned him down “for personal reasons”. Nine months later, she was shocked to hear ChatGPT's new “weirdly similar” voice, Sky, which the company put front and center. in their demonstration.

Connected: OpenAI Launches New AI Chatbot, GPT-4o

“When I heard the demo released, I was shocked, outraged and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would follow a voice that sounded so uncannily similar to mine that my closest friends and media couldn't tell the difference,” he said. Johansson.

^{Scarlett Johansson. Photo by ZOULERAH NORDDINE/AFP via Getty Images}

Johansson voiced an AI in 2013 movie “itAltman tweeted “it” the day of the release — implying that the company's choice to go with a similar voice “was intentional,” Johansson said.

ITS

– Sam Altman (@sama) May 13, 2024

According to Johansson's statement, she hired legal counsel after the release of GPT-4o and asked OpenAI to transparently detail how they created the “Sky” AI voice that sounds like hers.

As a result, the company “reluctantly” dropped its voice, she said. OpenAI stopped sound release on Monday.

In response, OpenAI published a blog post on Sunday saying that Sky's voice came from another actress and is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson.

“We believe that AI voices should not intentionally imitate a celebrity's distinctive voice,” OpenAI has written in a Sunday blog post.

OpenAI has been under review on SAFETY of its AI models and high-profile resignations of leading researchers, including Jan Leike, who resigned last week and CALLED for OpenAI to put security first over “shiny products”.

OpenAI is currently worth $80 BILLION.

Connected: OpenAI's chief scientist, co-founder Ilya Sutskever resigns