Scarlett Johansson hits AI app with legal action for cloning her voice in an ad
This likely won’t be the first time this happens.
AI could probably fly under the radar if they just didn't do stupid stuff like this, but they just have to push the boundaries. If they made any number of fake voices it'd be fine, but no, had to do a celebrity. I hope they lose. Stupid stupid stupid marketing department.
I think it's inevitable.
The bad actors stealing data to train their apps don't seem to have an adequate understanding of the implications of their actions. They're just looking to make a quick buck and run.
Bring on the lawsuits.
For sure, they've been just scraping everything for so long without a care. It's about time they start facing it.
Actually, I think this is a legally very interesting area.
At the end of the day, AIs are just fancy imitations. Nobody would sue someone for imitating a voice, as long as it's not impersonation (in the legal sense).
I think you misunderstand something. The same thing many AI enthusiasts and critics often choose to not understand. Regenerative AIs aren‘t just born from plain code and they don’t just imitate. They use a ton of data as reference points. It’s literally in the name of the technology.
You could claim „well maybe they used different voices and mixed them together“ but that is highly unlikely, given how much of a wild west approach most regenerative AI services have. it‘s more likely they used protected property here in a way it was not intended to be used. In which case SJ does indeed have a legal case here.
It's a hard one. You train a general AI and ask for a story idea, that's not a huge deal IMO. You ask it to write in the style of George RR Martin or something that's something different. Yes you can do it by hand too, but these tools make it easier than ever.
Then sub questions... Is it okay to do it for free? What if you distribute it? What if you charge for it? All questions that these ai companies are just ignoring when they potentially have massive ramifications.
Making a random avatar is fine. Using ScarJo is iffy if you're using it for free. What if you're streaming on twitch with her? What if you're charging to use her likeness on twitch where the users will make money? Idk the answers to any of those.
I mean depends on where they are from. If they are from the US or Europe they would be fucking idiots but if they are Chinese, Russian, etc they are basically untouchable and it will merely be a game of whackamole.
Edit: welp did a Whois on their website and seems its from Arizona. So yeah nevermind my top comment, if this is truly a company stationed in Arizona they really fucked up.
The website is hosted out of Arizona, but that is about it.
You can get the full company name from their privacy policy here: https://lisaai.app/privacy.html
If you Google the name, the company is registered in Instanbul: https://www.firmabulucu.com/isletme/convert-yazilim-limited-sirketi/
This is getting out of hand rather quickly.
I recently was watching some feelgood videos to up my mood (stuff like Thedodo) and one of the channels I landed on, the voice instantly sounded extremely familiar.
I thought "oh, did The Girl with the Dogs start another channel?" but then I listened more carefully and noticed the typical "generated" fragments in the audio.
They aren't just copying the voices of celebrities, but also of popular YouTubers.
We had 'Snoop Dogg' call us at work last week and leave a voicemail talking about some class action lawsuit. Wack
Wiggidy wack, or the regular kind?
Please destroy these unethical app! They can be used for so many bad applications: scams, misinformation, identity theft....
Would be hilarious if the picture there were also AI generated (it sure does look like it to me).
I was gonna say - I thought this was about Scarlett. Who's that in the picture?
At first glance I thought it was Millie Bobby Brown
So what tools did they use to create fake AI voice of her? Asking for a friend.
RVC is the most popular tool I'm aware of
https://github.com/RVC-Project/Retrieval-based-Voice-Conversion-WebUI
Thanks, I'll check it out. I tried TorToiSe before but couldn't get it to run.
Well this isn't creepy u/send_me_nude_girls
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary 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.
Saved 46% of original text. :::
Good bot
