There is no Scarlett Johansson deepfake lawsuit on any court docket. Her two most prominent confrontations over AI-generated versions of her likeness and voice — a 2023 app advertisement and OpenAI’s 2024 “Sky” voice — were handled through demand letters, public statements, and the threat of litigation, not formal filings. A 2025 deepfake video pulled her into the issue again, and her response was to press for federal legislation rather than sue. Here is what actually happened, why she has not gone to court, and what the law does and does not currently do for people in her position.
The 2023 Lisa AI App Advertisement
In October 2023, a 22-second ad appeared on X promoting an app called “Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar.” It opened with behind-the-scenes footage of Johansson from Black Widow, then cut to AI-generated images of her paired with a synthetic voice mimicking hers. Small print at the bottom read: “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”1Variety. Scarlett Johansson Legal Action AI App Ad Likeness The audio track had a voice sounding like Johansson saying, “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me.”2IndieWire. Scarlett Johansson Legal Action AI Ad
Her attorney, Kevin Yorn, confirmed she had no connection to the app and said her team would “deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have.”3The Guardian. Scarlett Johansson Artificial Intelligence Ad The ad was pulled from X shortly after. No lawsuit was publicly filed. The matter appears to have been resolved through cease-and-desist demands to the app’s developer, Convert Software.1Variety. Scarlett Johansson Legal Action AI App Ad Likeness
The OpenAI “Sky” Voice Dispute
The bigger confrontation came in May 2024. When OpenAI demonstrated GPT-4o, one of its voice options, “Sky,” drew immediate comparisons to Johansson’s voice and to Samantha, the AI character she played in the 2013 film Her. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, posted a single word on X after the demo: “her.”4NPR. OpenAI Pulls AI Voice That Was Compared to Scarlett Johansson in the Movie Her
Johansson responded publicly on May 20, 2024. She said Altman had approached her in September 2023 to license her voice for ChatGPT, arguing it would be “comforting to people” uneasy with AI, and she declined. Two days before the GPT-4o launch, Altman contacted her agent asking her to reconsider. Before her team could respond, the product went live with the Sky voice.5CNBC. Scarlett Johansson Says OpenAI Ripped Off Her Voice Johansson said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine.”6The New York Times. Scarlett Johansson OpenAI Voice
Her legal team sent OpenAI two letters demanding disclosure of how the Sky voice was built.4NPR. OpenAI Pulls AI Voice That Was Compared to Scarlett Johansson in the Movie Her OpenAI paused Sky on May 19, 2024. Altman apologized for poor communication but denied any intentional imitation, saying: “We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson.” The company said Sky belonged to a “different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice” and declined to identify her, citing privacy.7Variety. Scarlett Johansson Responds Shocked Angered OpenAI ChatGPT Her
No Suit Was Filed
Reporting after the incident noted it was “unclear if Johansson is considering legal action, now that OpenAI has withdrawn Sky.”8The Guardian. Scarlett Johansson OpenAI Legal Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT Johansson herself framed the goal as “resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”4NPR. OpenAI Pulls AI Voice That Was Compared to Scarlett Johansson in the Movie Her No court filing, settlement, or other formal resolution has been publicly reported.
Why She Did Not Sue: The Legal Terrain
The claim most legal analysts said Johansson could bring is a right-of-publicity claim. That doctrine, which lets individuals control commercial use of their name, image, likeness, and in some states their voice, exists only at the state level. There is no federal right of publicity, and protections vary widely.9Georgetown University. Ask a Professor: OpenAI v. Scarlett Johansson
The precedent most often cited is Midler v. Ford Motor Co., a 1988 Ninth Circuit decision. Ford, having been turned down by Bette Midler, hired a backup singer to imitate her voice for a commercial. The court held that “when a distinctive voice of a professional singer is widely known and is deliberately imitated in order to sell a product, the sellers have appropriated what is not theirs and have committed a tort in California,” reasoning that a voice is “as distinctive and personal as a face” and “to impersonate her voice is to pirate her identity.”10Justia. Midler v. Ford Motor Co., 849 F.2d 460
Georgetown Law professor Kristelia García called the parallels to Johansson’s situation “strikingly similar,” noting that OpenAI’s prior attempt to license her voice strengthened the analogy.9Georgetown University. Ask a Professor: OpenAI v. Scarlett Johansson But the hurdles are real. Proving that an AI-generated voice appropriates a specific person requires detailed discovery into training data and intent.11American Bar Association. OpenAI Scarlett Johansson First Amendment defenses complicate the picture as well, since courts have long weighed publicity rights against free expression.8The Guardian. Scarlett Johansson OpenAI Legal Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT
The 2025 Kanye West Deepfake Video
In February 2025, a deepfake video circulated online showing Johansson and other celebrities wearing T-shirts featuring a Star of David inside a hand making a middle finger gesture with the word “Kanye,” alongside the slogan “Enough is enough. Join the fight against anti-semitism.” It was created by Guy Bar and Ori Bejerano, digital marketers at the Israel-based agency Gitam BBDO, in response to Kanye West’s antisemitic rhetoric.12BBC. Scarlett Johansson Calls for AI Laws After Fake Video Other celebrities depicted included David Schwimmer, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Natalie Portman, Adam Sandler, and Sacha Baron Cohen.13Variety. Scarlett Johansson AI Video Kanye West Antisemitism
Johansson condemned the video on February 12, 2025, calling it “hate speech multiplied by AI.” She said she has “no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind” but objected to having fabricated statements put in her mouth.12BBC. Scarlett Johansson Calls for AI Laws After Fake Video Again, no lawsuit followed.
Her Push for Legislation
After the Kanye video, Johansson urged the U.S. government to make “the passing of legislation limiting AI use a top priority,” calling it a “bipartisan issue” and saying, “It is terrifying that the US government is paralyzed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of AI.”14WKOW. Scarlett Johansson Calls for AI Laws After Fake Video of Celebrities Condemning Kanye West
She is among nearly 400 artists and performers who signed on in support of the federal NO FAKES Act.15Courthouse News Service. Industry Leaders Urge Senate to Protect Against AI Deepfakes With No Fakes Act In January 2026, she joined the “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign led by the Human Artistry Campaign coalition, which includes the RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, the Recording Academy, and the Directors Guild of America. Nearly 800 creators, among them Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, Questlove, and R.E.M., have backed its demand that AI companies license copyrighted content rather than train on it without permission.16Deadline. Hollywood AI Protest Campaign A congressional subcommittee invited her to testify on AI and intellectual property after the OpenAI dispute, though there is no public record that she has done so.11American Bar Association. OpenAI Scarlett Johansson
Where AI Likeness Law Currently Stands
Federal law has not caught up. The NO FAKES Act, sponsored by Senators Chris Coons, Marsha Blackburn, Amy Klobuchar, and Thom Tillis, would hold individuals and platforms liable for producing or hosting unauthorized AI-generated replicas of a person’s voice or visual likeness.17U.S. Senator Chris Coons. NO FAKES Act One-Pager It was reintroduced in the Senate in April 2025 as S.1367, and a Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing in May 2025, but the bill had not advanced to a committee vote or floor action as of August 2025.18The Regulatory Review. Reintroduced No Fakes Act Still Needs Revision
The DEFIANCE Act, which would create a federal civil cause of action for victims of sexually explicit deepfakes, passed the Senate unanimously and moved to the House in July 2024, where it has awaited action.19The Indiana Lawyer. Federal DEFIANCE Act Passes Through Senate Awaits House Approval
States have moved faster. Tennessee’s ELVIS Act, signed in March 2024 and effective July 1, 2024, was the first state law to explicitly protect a person’s voice from unauthorized AI simulation. It creates a private right of action against anyone who distributes an AI-generated replica of a person’s voice or likeness knowing the use was unauthorized, and it extends liability to distributors of tools designed primarily for that purpose. As of early 2024, fourteen states had enacted laws addressing nonconsensual sexual deepfakes and ten had passed laws limiting deepfakes in political campaigns.20MultiState. More and More States Are Enacting Laws Addressing AI Deepfakes
The Deepfake Cases That Have Reached Court
Johansson’s disputes have not produced rulings, but a few other cases are testing the same legal boundaries. In Lehrman v. Lovo, Inc., two voice actors sued a startup that allegedly used their recordings to build an AI text-to-speech tool without authorization. In July 2025, a federal judge in New York dismissed the trademark and most copyright claims, holding that copyright does not protect against “imitation or simulation” of vocal characteristics. The court allowed New York right-of-publicity claims to proceed, finding that an AI voice clone can be a recognizable representation of a person’s identity under state law.21Skadden. New York Court Tackles the Legality of AI Voice Cloning The case is ongoing.
The estate of George Carlin reached a 2024 settlement after suing the creators of an AI-generated comedy special that used a digital replica of his voice; the defendants agreed to remove the special and refrain from future unauthorized use.22Columbia Law Review. A New Age of Publicity: The No Fakes Act and Federal Regulation on AI Replicas In music, Universal Music Group pressured streaming platforms to remove “Heart on My Sleeve,” a viral 2023 track using AI-generated vocals mimicking Drake and The Weeknd, though that came through platform enforcement rather than a court ruling.23American Bar Association. What’s Real What’s Fake: The Right of Publicity
So while Johansson’s name has become shorthand for the legal fight over AI likenesses, the actual case law is being made by others. Her leverage so far has been public pressure and the credible threat of a Midler-style publicity claim, both of which have been enough to pull two products off the market without her ever setting foot in a courtroom.