The Right of Publicity and Scarlett Johannson’s response to ChatGPT Sky voice

Details and context matter in Right of Publicity analysis. As a brief summary, OpenAI recently released its ChatGPT 4.0 with a chatbot voice (“Sky”) which Scarlett Johannson says is “eerily similar” to hers. We don’t know how the situation may get resolved, but the Right of Publicity provides a response. Apparently, an offer was made by OpenAI for Johannson to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 chat bot. Johannson declined. It may have seemed like a natural fit due to Johannson’s role in the movie Her in which she was the voice of an AI system. Perhaps that fit was so natural that on May 13, 2024 in proximity to the release, Sam Altman issued a one-word tweet: “her.” Past negotiations and this tweet could be the subject of considerable attention, as an example of why “details and context matter” when it comes to the Right of Publicity. The company has denied that Sky was meant to sound like Johannson, but these details could possibly indicate otherwise.

Here is a link to one of numerous articles providing more details: Scarlett Johannson ChatGPT voice that sounded like her

Andy Warhol’s Prince series not transformative; Andy Warhol’s Blue Marilyn transformative?

Just a quick note based on the Second Circuit’s recent ruling in Andy Warhol Found. for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, where it determined that Warhol’s Prince series was not transformative and therefore was subject to copyright provisions in relation to the reference photograph Warhol used. The court went through a fair use analysis, and the case was primarily concerning copyright, but it is interesting to contrast this decision with the Comedy III case, which was primarily Right of Publicity-related. In Comedy III, the Three Stooges artwork was held to not be sufficiently transformative, and the court used Warhol’s Blue Marilyn as the example of a work that would, in contrast, and in the court’s estimation, be sufficiently transformative. I’ll let those motivated to seek more run their own searches rather than post links here, as there is no lack of content, analysis and discussion being offered on this recent ruling. I have not, as yet, seen reference to the contrast with the Comedy III case, so I thought it may be useful to note it here.