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Both cases seem to have also borrowed from the artists’ songs too however. That could perhaps make a difference.

Bette Midler and Tom Waits didn't control their songs when they sued the companies.

But it makes it more likely that the listener will associate the commercial with the artist than just using the voice.

True to an extent. I'd argue that celebrity of a certain level would make one's voice recognizable and thus confusion can happen.

The Midler v. Ford decision said her voice was distinctive. Not the song.

OpenAI didn't just use a voice like Scarlett Johansson's. They used it in an AI system they wanted people to associate with AI from movies and the movie where Johansson played an AI particularly.[1][2]

[1] https://blog.samaltman.com/gpt-4o

[2] https://x.com/sama/status/1790075827666796666

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