Letters | OpenAI’s behaviour is a violation of basic human dignity

Readers discuss OpenAIs’ use of a synthetic voice evoking Scarlett Johansson, how a four-day work week could benefit Hong Kong’s labour market, and the importance of work-life balance for teachers

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference in Redmond, Washington on May 21. Altman and OpenAI have come under criticism for creating a synthetic voice that sounds remarkably like actress Scarlett Johansson without her permission. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 1 Jun 2024

Film star Scarlett Johansson has expressed shock and anger that OpenAI would use a synthetic voice which sounds eerily like her, so much so that even her family and closest friends could not tell the difference (“OpenAI pauses ChatGPT voice ‘eerily similar’ to Scarlett Johansson”, May 21).

This is yet another example of the deceitful behaviour artificial intelligence (AI) companies think they can get away with. This was an attempt to steal something intensely and uniquely personal: another human being’s personality.

According to a statement from Johansson, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman offered to hire her to help create a synthetic voice, saying it could provide greater comfort for people engaging with AI. Dressing up this exercise as an action that could benefit customers is a cunning attempt to cover up misuse of another person’s most precious possession.

Upon being confronted about this abuse of power and its threat to human dignity, OpenAI offered up these weak words in a blog post: “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice.” It denied the “Sky” voice at issue was an imitation of Johansson’s.

This kind of intrusive, unapproved plagiarism of someone’s personality trait is totally unacceptable, and it is high time that such behaviour is outlawed. The threat posed by the likes of OpenAI and ChatGPT require laws which enable legal countermeasures and ways to make AI companies pay for their theft of personality and creativity.

Meanwhile, a cryptocurrency project launched by Altman is collecting face and iris scans to create a “digital passport” for a global identity and financial network. Hong Kong is right to order the company to stop collecting these scans. Such collection of biometric information is an invasion of privacy and will only heighten the risk of abuse. Your eyes should be for your eyes only.