Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Lawyers' Views on Voice Dust-Up Between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI
Actress Scarlett Johansson has threatened the generative software company OpenAI with legal action. And intellectual property lawyers have many thoughts about who might win, whether there's even a legal claim to be made and what it all means.
Here's a quick rundown of what happened: In May, Johansson released a statement to NPR, saying that Sam Altman, OpenAI's founder and CEO, had approached her multiple times to lend her voice to the AI developer's newest voice assistant. According to her statement, she rejected the offers.
Then two days before the release of GPT-4o, OpenAI's new multi-modal large language model, which includes a default voice assistant named "Sky," Altman purportedly asked Johansson to reconsider. Before she could answer, however, GPT-4o — a model able to accept text, audio, image and video and to generate any combination of text, audio and image output — was released on May 13, along with the "Sky" voice, which many instantly assumed to be Johansson's. It was specifically reminiscent of the 2013 Spike Jonze movie Her, which incidentally is the story of a heartbroken man who falls in love with an AI-powered operating system, named Samantha, voiced by Johansson (in a movie where she, notably, does not appear onscreen).
This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
- Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
- Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
- Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?