Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Good morning, Theodore.
00:01 Good morning.
00:02 You have a meeting in five minutes.
00:04 In the 2013 film Her, Scarlett Johansson is the voice of an AI system that seduces a lonely
00:11 introvert played by Joaquin Phoenix.
00:14 In a case of life imitating art, Johansson says over the weekend she was taken aback
00:19 when open AI unveiled the voice of its new assistant.
00:23 Going by the name Sky, it sounded very much like Her.
00:27 Hey, Chachibiti.
00:28 How are you doing?
00:29 I'm doing fantastic.
00:31 Thanks for asking.
00:32 How about you?
00:33 Johansson says she was surprised because Open AI's chief executive, Sam Altman, had approached
00:39 her agent to ask that she consider licensing her voice for a virtual assistant, an offer
00:44 she ultimately refused twice.
00:47 In a statement, Johansson wrote, "When I heard the release demo, I was shocked, angered,
00:52 and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to
00:57 mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference."
01:00 For his part, Altman said in a statement that Sky's voice belonged to another professional
01:06 actress and that it was never intended to resemble Johansson's, a claim which appeared
01:12 to be undermined by Altman himself, who posted the single word "Her" on his ex-account last
01:17 week, an apparent nod to the 2013 film.
01:22 Altman went on to say that Sky's voice had been paused out of respect for Johansson.
01:27 The actress is just the latest artist to accuse Open AI of stealing creative work without
01:32 permission.
01:33 The company has faced copyright lawsuits from animators, journalists, and others, most recently
01:38 sued by the Authors Guild of America and the New York Times.