The actor revealed that there was one role that she decided to turn down as it would have been difficult for her children
Scarlett Johansson has shared what made her turn down a role for the sake of her children.
Actors might take on a lot of disturbing or unusual roles during the course of their career.
While up to a point there might be an understanding that this is part of the job, films can have some scenes that someone may not want to do participate in for the sake of their children or their morals. see their parent working in.
And this is something Johansson made clear in her decision to turn down one job in particular.
And we’re not talking a small role here either, the job that she turned down was a huge gig.
But even the most difficult film role would not have created the problems that this particular might have done.
So what this role that Johansson turned down?
Scarlett Johansson opened up about why she turned down a particular job. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
It was to be the voice of OpenAI’s chatbot.
Suddenly the decision makes an awful lot of sense doesn’t it?
Imagine opening up an AI chatbot and your mom’s voice coming out of it.
Johansson explained her decision to the New York Times, saying: “[I] actively avoided being a part of the [AI] conversation, which was what made it so disturbing.
“I was like, ‘How did I get wrapped up in this?’ It was crazy. I was so angry.”
Johansson has previously played the part of an AI entity in the 2013 film Her with Joaquin Phoenix, which sees the lead character falling in love with an AI computer.
But it’s one thing to play the role of an AI computer in a movie, quite another to be the voice of an actual AI system.
She said: “I felt I did not want to be at the forefront of that. I just felt it went against my core values. I don’t like to kiss and tell.
Johansson warned about the dangers of AI. (Paolo Blocco/FilmMagic)
“He [OpenAI CEO Sam Altman] came to me with this and I didn’t tell anybody except my husband … I also felt for my children it would be strange.”
She added: “I try to be mindful of them.”
Johansson also drew attention to the dangers of AI, including being used to create deepfake pornography.
Despite being illegal in many countries this is a danger which could be aimed at anyone but one which public figures, especially women, are more exposed to.
“If your ex-partner is putting out revenge, deepfake porn, your whole life can be completely ruined,” said Johansson.
“I think technologies move faster than our fragile human egos can process it, and you see the effects all over, especially with young people.”
She added: “This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave.”