Scarlett Johansson Not Holding Grudges After Disney Legal Battle, Says OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman Would Make A Good Marvel Villain After Voice Dispute

Scarlett Johansson has spoken out against OpenAI and quickly advancing deepfake technology, saying she was “disturbed” after the company mimicked her voice for its ChatGPT system Sky.

Earlier this year, Johansson issued a public statement saying OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman contacted her in September 2023 asking if she would provide the voice for Sky (after seeing her in the Spike Jonze film ‘Her’ where she voiced the operating system Samantha), but declined the job.

Johansson’s lawyers contacted OpenAI to have the voice of Sky pulled, to which OpenAI released the following statement: “Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.”

“I felt I did not want to be at the forefront of that,” the actress said when speaking to the New York Times about avoiding the general AI conversation. “I just felt it went against my core values. I don’t like to kiss and tell. He came to me with this and I didn’t tell anybody except my husband. I also felt for my children it would be strange. I try to be mindful of them.”

Johansson also touched on deepfake technology, calling it a “dark wormhole you can never climb your way out of.”

She continued: “Once you try to take something down in one area, it pops up somewhere else. There are other countries that have different legislation and rules. If your ex-partner is putting out revenge, deepfake porn, your whole life can be completely ruined. — I think technologies move faster than our fragile human egos can process it, and you see the effects all over, especially with young people. This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave.”

When asked if Altman would make a good Marvel villain considering the circumstances, the actress replied: “I guess he would – maybe with a robotic arm.”

All if this comes three years after Johansson’s public legal battle with Disney over the release of her Marvel solo superhero movie ‘Black Widow,’ which was released in theatres and on streaming service Disney+ during the pandemic, simultaneously — which was against her contract.

Johansson claimed her agreed contract for ‘Black Widow’ was for the film to be released exclusively in theatres, and that her fees were based on box office performance, which meant her contractual profits would be impacted by the streamer.

Disney’s initial response was unexpectedly aggressive, and openly revealed Johansson’s upfront fee of $20 million.

Disney and Johansson eventually settled for an undisclosed amount, but Deadline reported a sum of $40,000,000 USD.

“I don’t hold a grudge,” the actress said when talking about Disney. “I think it was just poor judgment and poor leadership at that time. It just felt very unprofessional to me, the entire ordeal. And honestly, I was incredibly disappointed, especially because I was holding out hope until, finally, my team was like, ‘You have to act’.”