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Who owns your voice? Scarlett Johansson OpenAI complaint raises questions

In the age of artificial intelligence, situations are emerging that challenge the laws over rights to a persona.
By
  1. Nicola Jones
Scarlett Johansson poses in a pink dress on the red carpet at the Cannes film festival

Scarlett Johansson has said she believes the OpenAI chatbot voice was intended to imitate her. Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty

A kerfuffle erupted last week after actor Scarlett Johansson complained that one of OpenAI’s chatbot voices sounded a lot like her. It isn’t hers — the company created it using recordings from someone else. Nevertheless, the firm has suspended the voice out of respect for Johansson’s concerns. But the media flurry has cracked open a broader discussion about peoples’ rights to their own personas. In the age of generative artificial intelligence (genAI), are existing laws sufficient to protect the use of a person’s appearance and voice?

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01578-4

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