There's a high-stakes clash between celebrity rights and cutting-edge artificial intelligence, acclaimed actress Scarlett Johansson has taken formal legal action against OpenAI, the company behind the viral language model ChatGPT. According to multiple reports, Johansson's legal team issued a cease-and-desist letter in March objecting to OpenAI's alleged plans to synthesize and use a cloned version of her voice without consent.
While full details remain confidential, the dispute appears to center on OpenAI's development of advanced voice replication capabilities that could mimic the voices of real individuals, including celebrities. As one of Hollywood's most renowned actresses, Johansson's voice is seen as highly valuable intellectual property.
"My client is justifiably concerned about the potential misappropriation and exploitation of one of her most personal assets – her voice," said Lewis R. Clayton, Johansson's intellectual property attorney, in a statement to Variety. "We are pursuing all available remedies under the law to protect Ms. Johansson's rights and prevent the unlawful misuse of her voice and likeness."
OpenAI has not directly commented on the legal action but acknowledged the complexity around voice synthesis in a February blog post: "We understand the profound impact that AI-generated voices can have...We are committed to ensuring our technologies are developed and used ethically, with emphasis on consent and privacy."
The company is at the forefront of generative AI breakthroughs that have stoked both excitement over beneficial use cases and concerns around potential misuse.
"This is a pivotal test case," said Amanda Levendowski, director of the Intellectual Property Law Clinic at Georgetown. "AI voice replication raises thorny questions about individuals' rights over their own voices and likenesses versus free speech and fair use doctrines."
Some see beneficial possibilities like customized voice assistants for disabled users or new creative mediums. But critics worry about nonconsensual deepfakes, impersonation, or other troubling applications.
"There's immense potential for harm if this technology is not developed responsibly and without robust safeguards in place," warned Kathleen Burke of the digital rights group Access Now.
Regardless of the outcome, Johansson's lawsuit is expected to shape how courts apply existing intellectual property, privacy, and publicity laws to novel AI capabilities. It could prompt new legislation and regulation in an uncharted legal frontier with major societal implications.
"This case will be studied and cited for years as a seminal data point in the relationship between the law and frontier technologies like AI voice cloning," predicted Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
