Tom Waits, IIRC, successfully sued the makers of a commercial for mimicking his voice, so there is precedent. And the fact that OpenAI reached out to her about using her voice, and that Altman tweeted the word “Her” on its own as a teaser of the product makes it pretty clear that they had knowledge and intent. I think she’s likely to have a pretty solid case here if she chooses to pursue it.
The biggest thing to me is they yanked that voice super quick. Like the same day. That makes me think a lawyer yelled at their client for being dumb and the only defense we’re going to get is, “it was an honest mistake, and we rectified it as soon as we were told. The voice was prepared because we thought the deal would go through. It should never have released.”
So she has a solid case but damages will be minimal.
Tom Waits, IIRC, successfully sued the makers of a commercial for mimicking his voice, so there is precedent. And the fact that OpenAI reached out to her about using her voice, and that Altman tweeted the word “Her” on its own as a teaser of the product makes it pretty clear that they had knowledge and intent. I think she’s likely to have a pretty solid case here if she chooses to pursue it.
The biggest thing to me is they yanked that voice super quick. Like the same day. That makes me think a lawyer yelled at their client for being dumb and the only defense we’re going to get is, “it was an honest mistake, and we rectified it as soon as we were told. The voice was prepared because we thought the deal would go through. It should never have released.”
So she has a solid case but damages will be minimal.