Scarlett Johansson hits out at AI after a chatbot copied her voice: 'It threatens reality'

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Scarlett Johansson has taken aim at AI after a tech company launched a ChatGPT voice assistant that sounded strikingly like her, despite the actress having refused to lend her voice to the project.
The Hollywood star, 40, said she was left 'shocked and in disbelief' when OpenAI's virtual assistant 'Sky' was unveiled at a glitzy Silicon Valley event in May 2024.
Fans were quick to note that the assistant's sultry, husky tones bore an eerie resemblance to Johansson's distinctive voice, most recognisably from her role in Her, the 2013 sci-fi film where she played an AI who develops a romantic relationship with its human user.
Making matters worse, OpenAI boss Sam Altman appeared to stoke the fire, posting just one cryptic word on social media at the time of the launch: 'her'.
The reference was widely seen as a nod to Johansson's role in the film, further fuelling speculation that the company had used her as inspiration without permission.
Scarlett later revealed that Altman had personally approached her months earlier, asking if she would be interested in voicing the assistant – an offer she turned down. But despite her refusal, a voice alarmingly close to her own was still used.
The Hollywood star, 40, said she was left 'shocked and in disbelief' when OpenAI's virtual assistant 'Sky' was unveiled but now says that while she believes AI can serve a purpose in film production, it can't replace the emotional core of a real performance
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Scarlett explained that while she believes AI can serve a purpose in film production, it can't replace the emotional core of a real performance.
'I just don't believe the work I do can be done by AI,' she said. 'I don't believe the soulfulness of a performance can be replicated.'
Though she acknowledged AI's usefulness behind the scenes - particularly in special effects - Scarlett warned of the deeper danger the technology poses when it begins to blur the line between truth and reality.
She said: 'That's a threat. The bigger picture - about how we human beings, with fragile egos, can continue to have the trust that we have to have in one another, to continue as a society. It's a moral compass.
'We move around the world every day just knowing we have to trust in some basic reality that we all agree on. AI threatens the foundation of that, and that to me is very haunting.'
The scandal surrounding 'Sky' led to the voice being removed from ChatGPT shortly after Scarlett's legal team stepped in.
OpenAI later claimed the voice was never intended to imitate the actress, but the damage was already done.
Scarlett who stars in the upcoming summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Rebirth, joked about her past experience with artificial stand-ins, recalling that during filming she spent months acting opposite a tennis ball on a stick in place of CGI dinosaurs.
She said: 'Some people have been upset with [AI in film-making] and that's fair, but on Jurassic World, I did act with a tennis ball for four months - and not all of that is completely authentic.'
Jurassic World: Rebirth hits cinemas on July 2 and promises to be the blockbuster event of the summer.
Starring alongside Scarlett is Wicked and Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey.
The second trailer for the upcoming flick begins with Scarlett who stars as skilled covert operations expert, Zora Bennett.
She can be heard warning the others as they head to the tropical island, the site of previous films.
'The theme park owners did experimental work,' she says. 'Leaving only the worst ones here.'
For the top-secret mission, they must safely obtain and bring back the genetic material of the most dangerous and largest dinosaurs the world has ever seen, made even more ferocious after the previous Jurassic Park scientists experimented on them.
The group are seen traveling by boat and arriving at the island, only to be first greeted by a bone-chilling roar in the distance, as they prepared to face off 'the worst of the worst dinosaurs left here,' as seen in text that flashes quickly across the screen.
'We've put ourselves in a place where we don't belong,' Bailey as Dr. Henry Loomis even says to her at one point. 'Survival is a long shot.'
She replies: 'That's kind of our specialty.'
The movie is set half a decade after the 2022 Jurassic World Dominion movie, which starred Bryce Dallas Howard alongside Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill among many more in the all-star cast.
The synopsis of the movie reads: 'Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs.
'Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived,' the summary continues.
'The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.'
The star-studded cast also includes Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein and many more.