OpenAI founder Sam Altman claimed in a statement that the voice heard on the app known as Sky is not Scarlett Johansson and said his office contacted her representatives and admitted it could have been “communicated better.”
Her comments came after Johansson issued her own statement saying her lawyers wrote letters to Altman and OpenAI about the voice she said sounds “eerily similar” to hers.
The Oscar-nominated star has become synonymous with AI voice thanks to her role as Joaquin Phoenix’s robotic romantic partner in the 2013 film Her. Altman even tweeted the word “she” around the time Sky launched.
The voice heard on Sky is that of a different professional actress, Altman previously said. In his latest statement, he confirmed that ChatGPT has “paused the use of Sky voice in our products.”
“We are very sorry, Ms. Johansson, for not having communicated better,” the statement concludes.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, shown here, said: “We are very sorry, Ms. Johansson, that we have not communicated better.”
Scarlett Johansson, 39, says she “was shocked, angry and in disbelief” as she claims the company OpenAI took her voice without her consent for a new ChatGPT project.
The voice heard on Sky is that of a different professional actress, Altman previously said. In his latest statement, he confirmed that ChatGPT has “paused the use of Sky voice in our products.”
In November 2023, when Altman was temporarily banned from his own company, a statement said his dismissal was due to him “not being consistently truthful in his communications.” Altman returned to ChatGPT as CEO days after he was fired.
“Sky’s voice is not Scarlett Johansson’s and was never intended to sound like hers. “We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before contacting Ms. Johansson,” Altman also said.
The fight over the rights to actors’ voices and images has become a focus of attention in Hollywood as studios consider how to use AI to create new entertainment and as computer-produced images and sounds become difficult to distinguish from humans.
Johansson in the statement said that Altman had approached her last September and offered to hire her to voice a ChatGPT voice, an offer she declined.
“Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public noticed how much the newest system called ‘Sky’ looked like me,” he said.
“When I heard the published demo, I was shocked, angry, and incredulous that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and the media couldn’t tell the difference.”
OpenAI showed off its newest AI model, called GPT-4o, last week, with audio capabilities that allow users to talk to the chatbot and get responses in real time, marking a significant advance in sounding AI conversations. more realistic.
In 2013, Johansson voiced Samantha, the virtual assistant to a lonely man (L, Joaquin Phoenix), in Spike Jonze’s sci-fi romantic drama Her, which received rave reviews and grossed $48.3 million at the box office. the world box office.
The Academy Award-nominated actress issued a statement through her publicist Marcel Pariseau to NPR, explaining the issue in detail on Monday.
The voice that Johansson claims was similar to hers, titled ‘Sky,’ was one of five voices that OpenAI made available last fall, according to The Washington Post, who added that the company suspended the use of voice as of Sunday.
The company said in a blog that it had trained voices for the audio option of its most developed artificial intelligence program and compensated the voice actors at “above-market rates” for their work on the program.
Scarlett Johansson vs. OpenAI: a timeline
September 2023: Scarlett Johansson said that Sam Altman tried to recruit her to become the voice of the ChatGPT 4.0 system.
The Lost in Translation star turned down the offer.
May 11, 2024: Johansson said that two days before the release of the product demo, Altman contacted his representatives to ask him to reconsider licensing his voice.
The product was launched before any agreement was reached.
May 13, 2024: Johansson said that “friends, family and the general public” noticed how much the ChatGPT system called Sky resembled her.
The actress said she was surprised that Atlman “went for a voice that sounded so “eerily similar” to hers.”
May 20, 2024: Altman confirms after Johansson’s statement that OpenAI has “paused” the use of Sky’s voice.
SChatGPT users found some interactions with Sky to be strangely flirtatious. In a video posted by OpenAI, a female-voiced ChatGPT congratulates a company employee for “sporting an OpenAI hoodie.”
In another, the chatbot says “oh stop it, you’re making me blush” after being told it’s amazing.
“This is clearly programmed to feed guys’ egos,” Desi Lydic, the Daily Show’s chief correspondent, said in a segment last week. “You can really tell that a man built this technology.”
OpenAI first implemented voice capabilities for ChatGPT, which included five different voices, in September, allowing users to engage in conversations with the AI assistant.
‘Voice Mode’ was originally only available to paid subscribers, but in November, OpenAI announced that the feature would be free to all users with the mobile app.
And ChatGPT interactions are becoming more sophisticated. Last week, OpenAI said the latest update to its generative AI model can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even attempt to detect people’s moods.
OpenAI says the newest model, called GPT-4o, runs faster than previous versions and can reason through text, audio and video in real time.
In a demonstration during OpenAI’s announcement on May 13, the AI robot conversed in real time, adding emotion — specifically “more drama” — to its voice as requested.
It also attempted to extrapolate a person’s emotional state by watching a selfie video of their face, with the help of language translations, step-by-step math problems, and more.
GPT-4o, short for “omni,” is not yet widely available. It will progressively reach selected users in the coming weeks and months. The model’s text and image capabilities have already started rolling out and are set to reach even some of those using ChatGPT’s free tier, but the new voice mode will only be available to paid ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
While most are yet to get their hands on these newly announced features, the capabilities have evoked even more comparisons to Spike Jonze’s dystopian romance ‘Her’.
On the recent SNL finale, Colin Jost unknowingly made a joke about the AI voice controversy.
Johansson and her spouse, Saturday Night Live personality Colin Jost, 41, are parents to two-year-old son Cosmo. The actress is also the mother of her nine-year-old daughter Rose Dauriac with her ex-husband Romain Dauriac, 42.
On the recent SNL finale, Jost unknowingly made a joke about the AI voice controversy. A tradition in the segment that Jost shares with Michael Che is watching the pair read jokes they’ve never seen before.
The idea is, of course, to tell each other funny jokes, almost supportive jokes that would never ruin our summer or our career,’ Colin ominously.
“ChatGPT has launched a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson’s AI character in Her,” Colin began.
‘Which I’ve never bothered to look at because without that body, what’s the point of listening?’
At that, Jost lowered his head and covered his face in shame.
