Scarlett Johansson Gets Dropped Into a Real-Life Black Mirror Nightmare, Sues AI Company For Cloning Actor’s Voice Without Consent
Scarlett Johansson is undoubtedly one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood. She has been in the Hollywood entertainment industry for decades and has starred in numerous great movies such as Lucy, Don Jon, Her, Ghost in the Shell, and many others. She gained international recognition for her portrayal of the superhero Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Scarlett Johansson’s movies have done remarkably well at the box office, making her the highest-grossing box-office star of all time. The actress is evidently great at acting and has no issues whatsoever standing up for herself as has been seen before when she single-handedly sued Disney for breaching a clause in her contract regarding the movie Black Widow. recently, she has sued an app for using her voice and likeness without her consent.
Scarlett Johansson Is Suing the AI App
While it is not the first time that Scarlet Johansson‘s disembodied voice has been on the screens because it has previously in Spike Jonze’s movie Her, this is certainly the first time that it has been used without the actress’ consent and she is not impressed by it at all.
An ad for the app Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar has used AI to mimic the Avengers star’s voice. It did not stop at that as it also used a clip from behind the scenes of the movie Black Widow in which Johansson says: “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me…”
A voice that is uncannily similar to the Marriage Story actress’ then proceeds to say:
“It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it.”
Scarlett Johansson’s attorney Kevin Yorn confirmed to Variety that his client is not related to the AI app by any means and that the clip has been used without her consent. The actress has taken legal action against the AI company and the ad has already vanished from the internet.
Tom Hanks Had Warned About Such Events Months Ago
A lot of concerns were raised by actors when the SAG-AFTRA strike started. One of them was to what extent would studios be allowed to use AI to create the likeness of an actor or their voice. Body doubles are not unheard of but AI is something far more dangerous for actors’ careers.
Read More: Tom Hanks Struggled to Watch Star Wars in Theatre Because of One Surprising Reason
Earlier this year, Tom Hanks had to post on Instagram to warn his fans that it was not him in a dental plan ad. In May 2023, during an interview on the podcast The Adam Buxton Podcast, the legendary actor addressed how AI may impact Hollywood, saying:
“I can tell you that there [are] discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms in order to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice — and everybody else’s — being our intellectual property.”
One of the major issues that Hanks pointed out was that a very old actor could be de-aged by decades for a project. Needless to mention even the demise of actors would not affect the industry by any means as they would continue to star in movies through AI. Actors like Scarlett Johansson are hopefully going to do the needful.
