May 23 – OpenAI’s apparent homage to the film “Her” featuring the likeness of Scarlett Johansson’s voice is fueling a backlash against artificial intelligence across Hollywood, executives told Reuters.

Johansson’s allegation that the ChatGPT-maker copied her performance in a Spike Jonze-directed feature film after failing to reach a settlement has rekindled concerns about the existential threat posed by AI in the creative class, while Hollywood studios are testing new tools and considering collaboration with OpenAI.

“It seems to really touch the heart,” one industry executive said. “It kind of puts a human face on it … a well-known tech company did something to someone we know.”

OpenAI stunned the world in February with feature film-like quality videos produced by its text-to-video tool, Sora. Since then, Hollywood executives and agents have met with the company several times to discuss potential creative partnerships and applications of the technology, according to agents and industry officials. Johansson criticized OpenAI for using a sultry voice she called “eerily similar” to her own performance in public demonstrations of ChatGPT’s latest version, angering some entertainment executives amid discussions of working more closely on projects, people with direct knowledge told Reuters.

“This certainly does not establish respectful collaboration between content creators and tech giants,” one studio executive said, calling OpenAI’s actions “arrogant.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement Monday that the voice “is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and was never intended to resemble her. We chose the voice actor behind Skye’s voice before contacting Ms. Johansson.”

The company, whose biggest investor is Microsoft, did not respond to requests for comment on its relationship with Hollywood following the controversy.

Even before the latest conflict, agents and executives who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity had said for weeks that they were concerned that OpenAI’s models had been trained on copyrighted works that the tech company deemed fair use because they are publicly available on the internet. This is seen as a major obstacle by some professional directors and filmmakers, who may be reluctant to use a tool built without consent on the work of others.

But entertainment industry technologists see Sora as a promising potential tool for enhancing the film and TV production process. They see near-future applications for the technology in increasing the speed of digital effects.

Fox is already using OpenAI’s ChatGPIT to recommend new TV shows and movies to viewers of its Tubi streaming service.

Although OpenAI has stated that its purpose is to protect copyright – preventing the ability to create videos featuring known characters such as Superman or prominent actors such as Jennifer Aniston, there remain concerns that it may harm lesser-known artists. How will it provide security?

lost the voice

Johansson’s clash with OpenAI opens a new front in the battle between the content industry and AI leaders. According to John Yanchunis, a partner at law firm Morgan & Morgan, Johansson has grounds to argue that OpenAI violated his right to publicity, which gives an individual the right to control the commercial use of his or her name, image or likeness.

Singer Bette Midler used a California law to regain her voice, in a case that legal scholars are calling a precedent-setting case. He successfully sued Ford’s advertising agency, Young & Rubicam, over the use of the phrase “Do You Want to Dance?” in a car commercial. A former backup singer was hired to imitate her singing, even though she turned down the offer to sing the song. The case, filed in 1987, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld his right to campaign. Tom Waits won a similar suit against Frito-Lay in 1988 because a commercial imitated Waits’ raspy singing style.

“In both of those cases, the sound-alikes were performing songs that the singers had made famous, so people were likely to assume that the artists were the ones singing and that they had endorsed the products,” said Mark Lemley, director of the Stanford Program on Law, Science and Technology.

Johansson’s case is less obvious than earlier cases, however, due to the attempt to copy Johansson’s voice from “Her”, along with Altman’s repeated attempts to hire her and one of his tweets referencing the film. , makes “a very strong case for”. Johansson,” Lemley said.

Jeffrey Bennett, general counsel for the SAG-AFTRA performers union, who played a key role in establishing the right of publicity in California and elsewhere across the country, is pushing for a federal right to voice and equality similar to the federal protections for copyright.

“We’re thrilled that there’s such a big conversation about it now,” Bennett said. “We have been trying to use the bullhorn and shout about it for quite some time now… We have been talking about the proliferation of ‘deep fakes’ and now it will start affecting everyone. Now, it’s really a conversation. There must be a federal solution.”

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