OpenAI executives say OpenAI’s apparent reverence and love for the movie “Her,” which features a voice similar to actress Scarlett Johansson, is causing a backlash against artificial intelligence (AI). ) across Hollywood.

Actress Johansson’s accusation that producer ChatGPT copied her performance in the film directed by Spike Jonze, after failing to reach an agreement, has aroused worries among the creative class about the existential threat posed by AI, even as Hollywood studios experiment with new tools and consider alliances with OpenAI.

“This seems to have been a real hit,” said one industry executive. It’s like putting a human face on it… There’s a famous tech company that did something to someone we know.”

OpenAI stunned the world last February with its feature-film-quality videos created by its text-to-video tool Sora. Since then, Hollywood executives and representatives have met with the company multiple times to discuss potential creative partnerships and technology applications, according to companies and executives in industry said.

Johansson criticized OpenAI for using a compelling voice that she called “eerily similar” to her performance in a public demonstration of the release, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. ChatGPT’s latest is facing opposition from some entertainment industry executives, amid discussions to collaborate more closely on projects.

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

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement released earlier Monday (May 20) that the voice “is not Scarlett Johansson’s and it was never intended to resemble her voice. We selected the voice actor for Sky’s voice before approaching Ms. Johansson.”

The company, whose largest investor is Microsoft, did not respond to a request for comment on its relationship with Hollywood following the above dispute.

Even before the latest spat, unnamed entertainment industry companies and executives had been telling the press for weeks that they were concerned OpenAI’s models appeared to be under-trained. is based on copyrighted works that the technology company considers fair use because they are publicly available online. That’s seen as a major stumbling block for some professional directors and filmmakers, who may be hesitant to use a tool built on someone else’s work without their consent. their.

However, technologists in the entertainment industry see Sora as a potentially promising tool to enhance film and television production. They see near-term applications for the technology to speed up digital effects.

Fox used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to recommend new TV shows and movies to viewers of its Tubi streaming service.

Although OpenAI says its purpose is to protect copyright – blocking the ability to create videos featuring famous characters like Superman or famous actors like Jennifer Aniston – there are concerns about how it will protect lesser known performers.

Actress Johansson’s confrontation with OpenAI opens a new front in the battle between the content industry and the leading AI company. According to John Yanchunis, a partner at the law firm Morgan & Morgan, actress Johansson has grounds to argue that OpenAI violated her right of publicity, which gives a person the right to control its use. commercialize your name, image or likeness.

Singer Bette Midler used California law to reclaim her voice in a case that legal scholars consider to have established a precedent. She successfully sued Ford’s advertising agency Young & Rubicam for hiring a former backup singer to imitate his performance of “Do You Want to Dance?” her name in an automobile commercial after she turned down an offer to perform the song. The lawsuit filed in 1987 went to the Supreme Court, which protected the singer’s right to publicity. Singer Tom Waits won a similar lawsuit in 1988 against Frito-Lay in a commercial that featured a performance that mimicked his gritty singing style.