When Arrogant “Entitled” Idiots Violate Rights, They Should Know That The Black Widow Bites: Actress Scarlett Johansson Tells Of The Appropriation Of Her Legal Rights By CHAT GPT’s Delusionary Boss

The word “entitlement” gets used a lot nowadays. Sometimes it just means whatever some politician, agitator, social media maven, or other n’ere-do-well wants it to mean and is thus meaningless…but sometimes it is real and a symptom of a disturbing trend of our times.

That’s doubly true when the victim of it is a high-profile talented person who is unwilling to accept the b.s. Case in point? Actress Scarlett Johansson, and the blatant “entitled” attitude of a cyber-jerk thinking he was entitled to use her person and property for his own benefit whether she agreed or not, all while pretending to ask as if her rejecting the request would matter to his behavior.

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Let Ms. Johansson tell her story:

“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and Al. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”

Fair enough so far, right? But in our age of the self-entitled alas things went south quite quickly.

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

She continues:

“After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me.When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘her’ – a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.”

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

THEN? It got worse:

“Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there,” Ms. Johansson relates.

SO can we honestly believe this Altman jerk ever intended to truly take “no” for an answer? Or can’t we see this as a “I’m entitled and she’ll come around” attitude—which considering how Ms. J successfully fought the unfair use of her performance and stood up to and was paid a sizeable settlement by a major Hollywood studio in the past and clearly was as tough in real life as her famous character “Black Widow” is in the movies.

(L-R): Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Taskmaster in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

But it continued, as she further tells her tale:

“As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAl, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the ‘Sky’ voice. Consequently, OpenAl reluctantly agreed to take down the ‘Sky’ voice.

In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities.”

(R): Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

And certainly these AI issues are at the heart of a whole lot of negotiation throughout the arts and media because so many like Altman just feel like they’re entitled to use what doesn’t belong to them, basing their nonsense, perhaps, on their misguided conviction that (a) it is no big deal and (b) respecting people’s person and property in their own image is irrelevant and that, in general, they (c) are too wonderful to ever be questioned on their attitude.

Happily we have people like Scarlett Johansson who are willing not only to stand up for themselves but for everyone to establish the clear and legal point of who owns “us” and who does not. She sums it up this way: “I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”

(L-R): Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Brava, Ms. J! And anyone out there who thinks issues like this, copyright, and property rights are somehow negligible and avoidable should be soundly and roundly and, when they stray from the law, expensively taught a lesson that they and their attitude of selfish, narcissistic entitlement should go pound sand.

(p.s. this applies to you who write “fan fiction” or make fan videos that violate trademarks, copyrights, and personal rights, too!)

NEXT: Scarlett Johansson and The Walt Disney Company Settle Lawsuit