PANews reported on May 21 that Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson issued a fierce statement, claiming that after she refused to provide her voice for ChatGPT, OpenAI blatantly imitated her unique tone. Last week, OpenAI showcased a synthetic voice that was very similar to the AI assistant Johansson played in the sci-fi movie "Her." However, this new voice was suddenly disabled over the weekend.

Before OpenAI released its latest AI model GPT-4o and launched a more conversational ChatGPT mode, company founder Sam Altman sparked a series of rumors, claiming that the company would launch a virtual assistant similar to the AI operating system voiced in the 2013 romantic drama film "Her," with a voice similar to Scarlett Johansson's. He liked a user's post on the X social platform, indicating that he was watching the movie to prepare for OpenAI's spring update event and tweeted the word "her" during the event. One of the AI-generated voices used in the event was called "Sky," which some users thought resembled Scarlett Johansson's voice in the movie "Her." However, as of 2:33 AM Eastern Time on May 19, OpenAI posted a statement on the X social platform, revealing that the company was "pausing the use of Sky" and addressing questions about their choice of ChatGPT voices.

Later that day, Eastern Time, Scarlett Johansson's representative issued a statement to multiple media outlets, including NPR, publicly criticizing OpenAI and especially Sam Altman, accusing them of contacting her nine months ago to provide her voice, which she refused. The statement said Johansson was "shocked, angry, and incredulous that even her closest friends and news organizations could not tell the difference." According to the statement sent to NPR and other media, Johansson said she had to hire a lawyer, who wrote to Altman and OpenAI, leading to the suspension and removal of the Sky voice.