this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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Scarlett Johansson hits AI app with legal action for cloning her voice in an ad | An AI-generated version of Scarlett Johansson’s voice appeared in an online ad without her consent.::Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her likeness in an online ad without her consent.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  1. I'd be amazed if it was actually her and not her lawyer/agency

  2. Yeah fuck em, shit like this without consent should be (/is?) illegal

[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  1. Well duh. Of course you go through your legal team. That’s what they’re for.
[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 year ago

It's her voice and she's the client. The lawyers can't file without her okaying it. She's also a pretty solid businessperson, she took on Disney and won.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It is. Something something, using their likeness (in a commercial context).

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

The developer is called "convert software", which is a pretty vague name. This developer/team could be anywhere in the world.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Joan Is Awful coming soon to a reality near you

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Great episode.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

good for her, sucks this sort of stuff has to be dealt with already. A.I. tech has developed wayyy faster than I thought

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

AI...coming for a job near you...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

we could've advanced AI for much cooler stuff but the first things we went for were voices and fukken art... wtf

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her name and likeness in an online ad, according to a report from Variety.

As reported by Variety, the 22-second ad showed Johansson behind the scenes while filming Black Widow, where she actually says “What’s up guys?

It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me.” But then, the ad transitions away from Johansson, while an AI-generated voice meant to sound like the actress states: “It’s not limited to avatars only.

At the very bottom of the ad, Variety reports that Convert Software — the developer behind the app — included text that reads: “Images produced by Lisa AI.

It has nothing to do with this person.” Representatives for Johansson tell Variety that the actress was never a spokesperson for the app and that her attorney, Kevin Yorn, “handled the situation in a legal capacity.”

Neither Yorn nor Convert Software responded to The Verge’s request for comment about the nature of the legal action.


The original article contains 311 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 46%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

I hope it wasn't some shitty Chinese mobile game. They rip off stuff constantly and just keep getting away with it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are people out there who sound a lot like SJ and you could probably clone their voice a lot cheaper. I worked with one and it was always uncanny.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Said AI app must have been capitalising on the fact that Scarlet Johansson voiced an AI in a movie before. Lol.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Feel badly for her. First she had to take the studio to court over Black Widow and now this.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I don't really. It isn't good these thanga happen, but it's not like she needs to do anything. She just pays her lawyers a small portion of her fortune and she gets more money. I feel bad for the people who actually need the work getting screwed, which this will hopefully set a precedent for.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man, I misunderstood the headline. I thought the AI had created a likeness of her voice, and SJ was going after them for that.

Which begs the question, just how unique are our voices? There's being distinct, and then there's being literally one of a kind.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Voice alone? It might be very difficult to claim you have a unique voice unless you’re Gilbert Gottfried or Bobcat Goldthwait. The issue in this ad was that it showed a real clip of Johansson saying ‘follow me’ before the images cut to something else and the AI-copy Johansson voice continued. The fake voice was heavily insinuated to be Johansson because it picked up where a real clip of Johansson left off.

It would be very hard to prove a person intended to mimic a specific person when creating an AI voice unless it’s accompanied by corroborating imagery.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Very true, and along the lines of what I was thinking.

But it wouldn't surprise me if there were a way to establish a voice print. In fact, isn't that already a thing? Even if it is a little rough around the edges, it wouldn't surprise me if we were even closer to a higher reliability than thought.

With or without that, consider the copyright infringement suits for someone wanting to protect their song, melody, or whatever. Someone could poke at the 8 keys of a toy piano, and if a music artist's legal team felt it sounded close enough to the original? The ol' beatdown-by-seeking-damages trick if not a cease and desist order.

Anyway. If someone has enough money and too much time, they'll make a case out of anything.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Isn't the last part the current DMCA process in YouTube?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nah. Individuals doing this shit, yes futile. Business, you best best they'll get in line eventually.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes and no. If it’s a business registered in a foreign country that won’t play ball, there’s not much you can do. Especially with something like ads

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Yes, but that's always the case. Law and deals will be followed at scale for the most part.