Scarlett Johansson's Battle With OpenAI

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/ar-BB1mWLqa

Scarlett Johansson's powerful Hollywood agent, Bryan Lourd, wanted answers
when he made an urgent call to Sam Altman last week: What do you think you're
doing?

Altman's artificial intelligence powerhouse, OpenAI, had for months
unsuccessfully courted Johansson, who memorably voiced an AI assistant in the
2013 film HER. Last September, Johansson turned down an offer to work with
OpenAI and voice a new assistant feature.

Altman didn't give up. In mid-May, he texted Lourd, co-chairman of Creative
Artists Agency, asking if Johansson might reconsider-- he wanted to show the
actress something he'd been working on, people familiar with the interaction
said. The camps couldn't settle on a time to meet. Then on May 13, OpenAI
showcased an updated AI system, equipped with new voice assistants for its
Chat GPT tool, including a female named Sky.

Johansson was surprised and angry. She and Lourd thought-- and others agreed--
that Sky's voice sounded "eerily similar" to the actress. Lourd and the
actress spent the morning fielding calls and emails from friends and
associates, some of whom worried that OpenAI had simply appropriated
Johansson's voice without permission.

When Lourd confronted Altman, however, the OpenAI chief executive was
incredulous. Did they really think the voice sounded like Johansson? Was she
mad?

So began the most dramatic episode yet in the collision between Hollywood and
the exploding world of artificial intelligence.

The emergence of AI as a rapidly advancing and perhaps unstoppable force has
sparked deep anxiety in creative industries that for decades have been
governed by strict rules of how creators are compensated for their work. The
reason is that the language models that power generative AI chat tools are
typically made using text, images, music and videos hoovered up from across
the internet. That can include material that is copyrighted, valuable and
often paywalled-- like Scarlett Johansson's voice.

Johansson-- who just three years ago waged a blistering and public legal
campaign against Disney-- hired a legal team to demand answers from Altman and
OpenAI and issued an excoriating statement.

OpenAI, however, said Sky was never intended to resemble Johansson, and that
the company had hired a voice actor who recorded the part before any outreach
to Johansson. People close to Altman say he wanted Johansson to be involved in
the voice project, potentially as an additional voice or to promote the
product.

OpenAI paused use of the Sky voice on Sunday after receiving legal letters
from Johansson's team of representatives. Altman said Monday evening in a
statement that he apologized for failing to communicate better.

Altman has been the most visible face of the AI movement since OpenAI launched
ChatGPT in late 2022 and ignited a global frenzy over AI technology. He and
the company face numerous challenges, including a slew of copyright lawsuits
and mounting pressure to advance its GPT-4 technology. It's also trying to
move past its leadership crisis from last November, when OpenAI's then-board
of directors fired Altman for failing to be "consistently candid". He was
quickly reinstated as CEO.

For performers like Johansson and IP owners, it is hard to prove whether their
likeness or content has been misused. Regulations governing the systems are
scant.

Altman in a speech last year said he and other OpenAI executives were inspired
by the 2013 film HER, in which a man falls in love with his AI assistant,
voiced by Johansson. The company aimed to develop an assistant like Apple's
Siri or Microsoft's Cortana that users could talk to.

Last May, the company sent out a casting call looking for male, female, and
nonbinary voices in the 25 to 45 age range. It wanted voices that were warm,
engaging and charismatic, internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal show. "Someone you instantly trust and feel a kinship with. Nothing
'put on'."

It whittled down a list of 400 applicants and flew actors to San Francisco
last June and July for recording sessions. The actors were asked to sign
nondisclosure agreements and refrain from providing voice recordings to
OpenAI's competitors for three years after the product launch, the documents
show. OpenAI says that the actress who played Sky was recording in the studio
last July.