OpenAI Voice Actor Cohort — Threatened 'Sky' Voice Likeness Claims (no filing)
(threatened — no filed case) · Public legal threat by Scarlett Johansson re: OpenAI 'Sky' voice (May 2024)
Scarlett Johansson publicly threatened legal action against OpenAI in May 2024 after the company released a 'Sky' voice for GPT-4o that closely resembled hers — after she had declined to license her voice. OpenAI withdrew the voice. No lawsuit was filed, but the episode became a touchstone for voice-likeness AI right-of-publicity policy debates and shaped the NO FAKES Act.
Technical detail
Public legal threat by Scarlett Johansson, May 20, 2024, asserting Cal. Civ. Code § 3344 / Lanham Act § 43(a) right-of-publicity and false endorsement claims. OpenAI 'paused' the Sky voice. No public docket; relevant for tracking voice-likeness AI policy and the NO FAKES Act path.
Who is protected: Recording artists, voice actors, and other performers vis-à-vis AI voice cloning
Who must comply: AI voice and generative-audio platforms
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | (threatened — no filed case) |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Status | Status unknown |
| Protection strength | Unknown |
| Effective date | 2024-05-20 |
| Citation | Public legal threat by Scarlett Johansson re: OpenAI 'Sky' voice (May 2024) |
| Topics | deepfakes · consumer protection |
| Last verified | 2026-07-01 |
| Official source | OpenAI Pulls 'Sky' Voice After Scarlett Johansson Comment — NPR ↗ |
Related deepfakes rules elsewhere
- TAKE IT DOWN Act · In effect
- TCPA (AI voice calls) · In effect
- DEFIANCE Act (deepfake-porn civil suits) · Proposed / pending
- SB 942 (AI Transparency Act) · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- AB 2839 (Election Deepfakes) · Blocked / in litigation
- AB 602 (Deepfake Intimate Images) · In effect
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