Update, May 20, 4:15 p.m. PT: Johansson has released a statement regarding OpenAI's ChatGPT voice, Sky (via The Hollywood Reporter). The message says the company contacted her in September in an attempt to hire her to provide her voice for ChatGPT 4.0. She explains that she denied the request "after much consideration and for personal reasons."
Johansson adds that she was "shocked, angered, and in disbelief" upon hearing a demo for Sky that sounded "eerily similar" to her voice. Altman asked her to reconsider her involvement when speaking with her agent just two days before the release of the 4.0 demo, but Sky was released before the two could connect. Johansson then hired legal counsel and asked for an explanation before OpenAI "reluctantly" agreed to remove the ChatGPT voice option.
You can read Johansson's full statement below:
Previous story as follows:
OpenAI is suspending its ChatGPT voice, Sky, after users claimed that it seemed to mimic Scarlett Johansson’s voice in the 2013 film, Her.
The company addressed the situation with a statement X (formerly Twitter) today, saying that it is “working to pause the use of Sky” while the issue is tended to. Many have pointed out that the voice shares similarities with Johansson’s performance as an AI companion in the Spike Jonze-directed movie.
We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 20, 2024
Read more about how we chose these voices: https://t.co/R8wwZjU36L
Sky is one of a few ChatGPT voices users can choose from. In a separate explanation on its website, OpenAI explained how its voices are chosen and created.
“We support the creative community and worked closely with the voice acting industry to ensure we took the right steps to cast ChatGPT’s voices. Each actor receives compensation above top-of-market rates, and this will continue for as long as their voices are used in our products.”
The statement continues: “We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice—Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice. To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.”
Allegations that Sky’s voice was too close to the Marvel movie star’s flared up last week when OpenAI revealed its new GPT-4o model as part of a livestream event. It allows users to have realistic conversations with ChatGPT about any topic they choose. It’s a role not unlike what was seen with Joaquin Phoenix’s character in Her, which involved him falling head over heels for a Johansson-voiced operating system named Samantha.
Say hello to GPT-4o, our new flagship model which can reason across audio, vision, and text in real time: https://t.co/MYHZB79UqN
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 13, 2024
Text and image input rolling out today in API and ChatGPT with voice and video in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/uuthKZyzYx
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even went on to post the word “her” on X following the event’s conclusion. In a separate follow-up post, he likened the new voice and video mode to being like something audiences have seen in movies. Additionally, when speaking to The San Francisco Standard last September, Altman named Her as his favorite sci-fi movie.
“I like Her. The things Her got right—like the whole interaction models of how people use AI—that was incredibly prophetic,” he said.
her
— Sam Altman (@sama) May 13, 2024
It’s unclear how OpenAI will address the concerns that Sky is mimicking Johansson’s voice or how it will dodge potential concerns in the future. For more on artificial intelligence, you can read up on the experimental AI-made video game that failed.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
