It appears that seasoned actor Morgan Freeman is unimpressed with the recent rise in the application of AI technology. According to a media outlet, Morgan Freeman recently commended his admirers on social media for pointing out unauthorized AI imitations of the actor’s recognizable voice.
“Thank you to my incredible fans for your vigilance and support in calling out the unauthorsed use of an A.I. voice imitating me,” the actor wrote. “Your dedication helps authenticity and integrity remain paramount. Grateful. #AI #scam #imitation #IdentityProtection”
Morgan’s essay is timely given the criticism the entertainment industry has been receiving for AI impersonations.
The media site reports that Scarlett Johansson’s legal team has demanded that OpenAI reveal the process by which it developed Sky, an AI personal voice assistant, and take down the chatbot due to its striking resemblance to Johansson’s voice.
According to Johansson, she was asked to lend her voice for a conversational version of ChatGPT by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in September of last year, but she turned him down for “personal reasons.”
After she declined to collaborate with the AI company, the actor said last month that she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that they had continued to use a voice that was strikingly similar to hers.
Additionally, it is said that two days prior to the voice assistant demo’s release, Altman asked her agency to think twice. The voice assistant was put on hold by the corporation, but they clarified that Johansson’s voice was not mimicked.
Drake also faced criticism in April from Tupac Shakur’s estate for dissing Kendrick Lamar in his song “Taylor Made Freestyle” by using an AI mimic of the West Coast rapper.
Drake was issued a cease-and-desist letter by Howard King, the estate representative for Tupac Shakur, claiming that the song was a “blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
