Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson has suggested OpenAI CEO Sam Altman could moonlight as a Marvel villain.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Johansson reflected on her public dispute with Altman, wherein she accused the tech magnate of using an imitation of her voice for OpenAI's ChatGPT system Sky after users claimed it mimicked the AI virtual assistant in the 2013 film Her, for which Johansson provided the voice.
The actress told the outlet she felt "so angry" about the situation because she had "actively avoided being a part of the [AI] conversation, which was what made it so disturbing" and "crazy." Asked if she thought Altman would make a good Marvel villain, Johansson responded: "I guess he would — maybe with a robotic arm."
Allegations that Sky's voice was too close to the Marvel movie star's flared up in May when OpenAI revealed its new GPT-4o model as part of a livestream event. Altman even posted the word "her" on X/Twitter and, in a separate follow-up post, likened the new voice and video mode to something audiences have seen in movies.
Johansson shared a statement at the time, saying OpenAI had previously contacted her in an attempt to hire her to provide her voice for ChatGPT 4.0. However, she denied the request "after much consideration and for personal reasons." Those reasons became clearer in the new interview as she recalled the incident.
"I felt I did not want to be at the forefront of that," Johansson said. "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 went on to describe deepfake technology as a "dark wormhole you can never climb your way out of."
"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," she said.
"I think technologies move faster than our fragile human egos can process it," she concluded, "and you see the effects all over, especially with young people. This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave."
Issues with such technologies have dominated headlines in recent months. Johansson previously took legal action against an AI app and its parent company for illegally using her name and likeness, while actor Morgan Freeman recently thanked fans for calling attention to the "unauthorized" use of AI to imitate his voice.
Photo by Juan Carlos Rojas/picture alliance via Getty Images.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
