The controversy does not seem to be leaving OpenAI, despite being one of the companies with the greatest projection and growth in recent years. In these last few weeks, the company led by Sam Altman has raised concerns among investors due to several decisions they have made lately.
Undoubtedly, the most concerning of them is the internal crisis currently facing OpenAI, after one of its co-founders, Ilya Sutskever, left the company along with his entire team. They left the company due to differences with the CEO over prioritizing AI progress over the security of this technology.
We know that although AI can offer us an infinite number of advantages, we must be very cautious with it. Little by little, we are beginning to discover through the worst possible means the damage that can result from the misuse of this technology. From scams using AI to identity theft, this only marks the beginning of this “AI Era.”
Interestingly, OpenAI has found itself in a new controversy related to impersonations. It is not a matter of using ChatGPT to create a model for a major scam. Instead, Sam Altman and his entire team have impersonated the actress Scarlett Johansson without permission to develop their new chatbot, ChatGPT 4o.
This is because this new version stands out as you can interact with it by voice. What has caught the attention of those who have tried it is that the voice, or at least its similarity, is to that of the American actress.
Where is the controversy with OpenAI and Scarlett Johansson
As reported from the actress’s circle, in September 2023 Sam Altman contacted Johansson to offer her the opportunity to be the voice of the ChatGPT 4o system. He believed that her tone would be familiar to users and they would feel more comfortable than with the typical robotic voice.
However, the actress rejected the offer for personal reasons and forgot about the matter, until nine months later her family and friends mentioned how much the new voice of Sky, the ChatGPT chatbot, resembled hers.
“When I heard the voice, I was stunned, furious, and incredulous about Mr. Altman using a voice that sounded so much like mine, to the point that my closest friends and the media couldn’t even notice the difference.” reads the statement.
Additionally, the actress claims that Altman hinted that the similarity was intentional, and that the name HER given to this AI is in honor of one of the movies she made where she played a machine establishing relationships with humans.
The actress, who has decided not to take legal action for now against the company, states that OpenAI contacted her two days before the launch of ChatGPT 4o asking her to reconsider the offer, and before she could respond, the AI with her voice had already been launched.
OpenAI now denies that this is the actress’s voice, even the company’s CTO, Mira Murati, claims not to know what her voice sounds like. Johansson has requested that the company show her the step-by-step process followed to obtain that voice, so we will have to wait and see what comes out of that.
For now, OpenAI has paused the use of that voice, “out of respect for the actress,” and will have to prepare a good explanation to justify this alleged misunderstanding. It is surprising that after the excellent year the company had last year, they are stumbling like blind men, with Google on their heels in the AI race. If the company doesn’t get serious or ChatGPT could die due to its premature success.
