4 ms·

It probably made things worse, but the fact that they reached out to her to use her voice and she explicitly refused would be sufficient ammo I feel. (Not a law

It probably made things worse, but the fact that they reached out to her to use her voice and she explicitly refused would be sufficient ammo I feel. (Not a lawyer of course). Of course, Twitter continues to bring people with big egos to their own downfall.

not2b 2y ago
Not to mention that it matches up pretty much exactly with the Bette Midler and Tom Waits cases, where courts ruled against companies using soundalikes after the person they really wanted turned them down. Doesn't matter if they hired a soundalike actress rather than clone her voice, it still violates her rights.
- cortesoft 2y ago
  I am guessing this is only because they first tried to hire the originals before hiring sound-alikes... otherwise, would it mean that if your voice sounds similar to someone else, you can't do voice work?
  - recursive 2y ago
    > would it mean that if your voice sounds similar to someone else, you can't do voice work? Maybe only when the director's instructions are "I want you to sound like XYZ".
    - wilg 2y ago
      Of course, surely you can do this if you're playing a character, such as impersonating Trump or Obama or an actor on SNL?
      - not2b 2y ago
        Yes, parody's fine when it's clearly parody. But if you try to pretend that Trump or Obama (rather than an impersonator) is endorsing a product, you're in trouble.
        wilg 2y ago
        but openai has only ever said that the chatgpt voice has nothing to do with scojo
        cortesoft 2y ago
        What you say after the fact doesn't really matter...
    - smugma 2y ago
      Exception: Parody is covered under the first amendment.
      - meat_machine 2y ago
        >Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White had established herself as a TV personality, and consequently appeared as a spokesperson for advertisers. Samsung produced a television commercial advertising its VCRs, showing a robot wearing a dress and with other similarities to White standing beside a Wheel of Fortune game board. Samsung, in their own internal documents, called this the "Vanna White ad". White sued Samsung for violations of California Civil Code section 3344, California common law right of publicity, and the federal Lanham Act. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted summary judgment against White on all counts, and White appealed. >The Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court, finding that White had a cause of action based on the value of her image, and that Samsung had appropriated this image. Samsung's assertion that this was a parody was found to be unavailing, as the intent of the ad was not to make fun of White's characteristics, but to sell VCRs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_v._Samsung_Electronics_America,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_v._Samsung_Electronics_A.... Maybe it depends on which court will handle the case, but OpenAI's core intent isn't parody, but rather to use someone's likeness as a way to make money. (I am not a lawyer)
  - not2b 2y ago
    Good voice actors can do a whole range of voices, including imitating many different people. The cases where someone got in trouble are where there's misrepresentation. If it goes to court, there's discovery, and if the OpenAI people gave specific instructions to the voice actor to imitate Scarlett Johansson, after denying it, there could be big trouble. We don't know that, but it looks likely given how they first approached her and how they seemed to be going for something like the "Her" film.
  - planede 2y ago
    It's only really about the intent of the voice to sound like the original. Reaching out to the originals first implies intent, so it makes the case easier. It would be harder to find a case if they simply just hired someone that sounds similar, but if they did that with the intention to sound like the original that's still impersonation, only it's harder to prove. If they just happened to hire someone that sounded like the original, then that's fair game IMO. IANAL
joegibbs 2y ago
Definitely. GPT4o has a voice that sounds like Scarlett Johannson? They'd probably get away with it, I'm sure there are a lot of people that sound like her. Tweeting a reference to a movie she was in - a bit more murky because it's starting to sound like they are deliberately cloning her voice. Asking to use her voice, then using a soundalike, then referencing the movie? 100%, no doubt.

not2b 2y ago

Not to mention that it matches up pretty much exactly with the Bette Midler and Tom Waits cases, where courts ruled against companies using soundalikes after the person they really wanted turned them down. Doesn't matter if they hired a soundalike actress rather than clone her voice, it still violates her rights.

cortesoft 2y ago
I am guessing this is only because they first tried to hire the originals before hiring sound-alikes... otherwise, would it mean that if your voice sounds similar to someone else, you can't do voice work?
- recursive 2y ago
  > would it mean that if your voice sounds similar to someone else, you can't do voice work? Maybe only when the director's instructions are "I want you to sound like XYZ".
  - wilg 2y ago
    Of course, surely you can do this if you're playing a character, such as impersonating Trump or Obama or an actor on SNL?
    - not2b 2y ago
      Yes, parody's fine when it's clearly parody. But if you try to pretend that Trump or Obama (rather than an impersonator) is endorsing a product, you're in trouble.
      - wilg 2y ago
        but openai has only ever said that the chatgpt voice has nothing to do with scojo
        cortesoft 2y ago
        What you say after the fact doesn't really matter...
  - smugma 2y ago
    Exception: Parody is covered under the first amendment.
    - meat_machine 2y ago
      >Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White had established herself as a TV personality, and consequently appeared as a spokesperson for advertisers. Samsung produced a television commercial advertising its VCRs, showing a robot wearing a dress and with other similarities to White standing beside a Wheel of Fortune game board. Samsung, in their own internal documents, called this the "Vanna White ad". White sued Samsung for violations of California Civil Code section 3344, California common law right of publicity, and the federal Lanham Act. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted summary judgment against White on all counts, and White appealed. >The Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court, finding that White had a cause of action based on the value of her image, and that Samsung had appropriated this image. Samsung's assertion that this was a parody was found to be unavailing, as the intent of the ad was not to make fun of White's characteristics, but to sell VCRs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_v._Samsung_Electronics_America,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_v._Samsung_Electronics_A.... Maybe it depends on which court will handle the case, but OpenAI's core intent isn't parody, but rather to use someone's likeness as a way to make money. (I am not a lawyer)
- not2b 2y ago
  Good voice actors can do a whole range of voices, including imitating many different people. The cases where someone got in trouble are where there's misrepresentation. If it goes to court, there's discovery, and if the OpenAI people gave specific instructions to the voice actor to imitate Scarlett Johansson, after denying it, there could be big trouble. We don't know that, but it looks likely given how they first approached her and how they seemed to be going for something like the "Her" film.
- planede 2y ago
  It's only really about the intent of the voice to sound like the original. Reaching out to the originals first implies intent, so it makes the case easier. It would be harder to find a case if they simply just hired someone that sounds similar, but if they did that with the intention to sound like the original that's still impersonation, only it's harder to prove. If they just happened to hire someone that sounded like the original, then that's fair game IMO. IANAL

joegibbs 2y ago

Definitely. GPT4o has a voice that sounds like Scarlett Johannson? They'd probably get away with it, I'm sure there are a lot of people that sound like her. Tweeting a reference to a movie she was in - a bit more murky because it's starting to sound like they are deliberately cloning her voice. Asking to use her voice, then using a soundalike, then referencing the movie? 100%, no doubt.