This week's PR Roundup looks at OpenAI's response to ScarJo, the next chapter for healthcare, influencers and agencies, and new data on when to post to social media.
OpenAI Accused of Using Scarlett Johansson’s Voice Without Permission
What happened: It’s a game of “he said, her said” when it comes to the latest crisis over at OpenAI.
Actress Scarlett Johansson said she felt OpenAI copied her voice for its newly-released AI voices for ChatGPT. She said this came after she refused a request from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to use it.
Johansson played the voice of an AI assistant in the 2013 movie “Her,” which made a bizarre tweet by Altman on May 13 all the more vexing.
her
— Sam Altman (@sama) May 13, 2024
What also makes this instance even more intriguing is that Altman revealed one of his favorite movies to be “Her” in a public interview back in September 2023.
In response OpenAI disabled the use of the “Sky” voice on ChatGPT this weekend. It also published a post revealing the process of creating its AI voices. Altman released another statement and apologized to Johansson for the poor communication, saying the company “never intended” the voice to resemble her, and that they “cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson.”
On May 23, The Washington Post published a story after obtaining documents and recordings showing OpenAI hired a different voice actress for the ChatGPT voice named “Sky.”
Communication takeaways: Regardless of the company showing transparency surrounding the voice process as well as issuing an apology, OpenAI still could find themselves in a legal conundrum. Past likeness cases including one by actress Better Midler against the Ford Motor Co. and singer Tom Waits suing Frito Lay both landed in favor of the celebrity involved.
ROKK Solutions EVP Lindsay Singleton says OpenAI’s likeness conundrum has opened a Pandora’s Box in the entertainment industry—the fear of using the likeness of a performer without agreement or compensation.
“Beyond apologizing, the company should consider making a thoughtful statement that addresses this fear and commit to a process that ensures the same mistake doesn't happen again,” Singleton says. “This would assuage concerns in the entertainment industry and beyond and could set them up to be a leader in AI guidelines going forward."
Healthcare and Digital Influence
What happened: Social media search should have Google worried. According to a 2024 report from marketing platform SOCi Gen Z prefer Instagram (67%) and TikTok (62%).
This can translate to everything from travel to beauty tips. However, one industry is emerging as a prime destination for social media information seekers—healthcare.
New data from Ogilvy Research and Intelligence shows 70% of people surveyed either “follow/seek out health-related social media accounts or learn about health or medical issues from social media accounts.” The agency also found that “93% who engaged with health-related social media accounts report taking some action such as scheduling a preventative screening or check-up as a result of seeing health- or medical-related content.”
Communication lessons: So what does this mean? Many organizations and brands are turning to applicable influencers to provide content that creates an impact. And because of this Ogilvy launched its own Health Influence offering.
And they aren’t the only ones. BCW just launched Trufluence x HCP this week to support healthcare professionals with content challenges including confusing healthcare policy and misinformation. In 2023, Linqia announced its Healthcare Creator Network (HCN)—a pre-vetted list of HCPs who are also social media influencers.
Managing an official partnership with authenticated advocates and creators can contribute to building greater trust with the public when it comes to sharing health and information on digital platforms.
“Like consumer and business audiences, increasing trust and sparking business growth depends on authentic credibility, not just hard sales,” says Rahul Titus, Ogilvy’s Global Head of Influence Pharma. “The future of Health Influence is around real experts driving real impact. Own your conversation around health, or someone else will.”
Best Times to Post on Social
What happened: Sprout Social, a social media management platform, recently released its annual Best Times to Post on Social Media report. The report outlines the best and worst times to post on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest and X (formerly known as Twitter). Sprout based its findings on an analysis of nearly 2 billion social engagements, usage data across 400K social profiles and Sprout’s 34K+ customers.
Notable results include:
- Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m continue to be the best times to post on social media across all platforms, while Sunday is the worst day to post.
- Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn see the most success during midweek mornings, while Pinterest and TikTok see higher engagement in the afternoons.
- Facebook continues to be the most-used platform by marketers worldwide, but Instagram comes in second at 80%. The two platforms tie for offering marketers the highest ROI at 29%.
- Weekdays are generally best for posting on Instagram between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with Tuesdays and Wednesdays seeing engagement until 4 p.m..
- TikTok sees the highest engagement between Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m..
- Best times to post on X are Mondays through Fridays starting at 9 a.m. until nearly 3 p.m. (compared to just noon last year).
Specific information for each platform, as well as tips on how to decide your own best times to post can also be found in Sprout’s report.
Communication takeaways: Rachael Goulet, Director, Social Media, Sprout Social says findings like these are important to review, as business depends on it.
“The impact of social media on business has never been greater,” Goulet says. “It now spans several teams—including customer experience, sales, product development, content and marketing—offering communicators a distinct opportunity to understand their audiences, build deeper connections and ultimately transform their use of social. The social platforms in which those relationships are built, each offer unique benefits for brands depending on their goals, content type and audience.”
Goulet also notes the importance of reviewing each platform’s data because each sees varying ranges of engagement—no two are the same.
“The key is for brands to couple a deep understanding of their audiences’ needs with the report’s platform-specific data to optimize their social strategies,” Goulet says. “Those who effectively do so will see the best engagement on social media and ultimately business-wide impact.”
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.