Actor Scarlett Johansson has accused OpenAI of copying her voice for one of many voice assisstants in ChatGPT regardless of denying the corporate permission to take action. Johansson’s assertion on Monday got here hours after OpenAI mentioned that the corporate would no longer use the voice in ChatGPT however didn’t present a motive why.
“Final September, I obtained a suggestion from Sam Altman, who wished to rent me to voice the present ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson wrote within the assertion shared by her public relations workforce with Engadget (NPR first reported the story). “He instructed me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I might bridge the hole between tech firms and creatives and assist customers to really feel comfy with the seismic shift regarding people and AI. He mentioned he felt that my voice could be comforting to individuals.” Johansson added that she declined the supply after “a lot consideration and for private causes,” however when OpenAI demoed GPT-4o, the corporate’s newest massive language mannequin final week, “my buddies, household, and most of the people all famous how a lot the latest system named ’Sky’ seemed like me.”
When Johansson noticed OpenAI’s newest demo, she mentioned she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily just like thoughts that my closest buddies and information shops couldn’t inform the distinction.” She additionally revealed that Altman had contacted her agent simply two days earlier than the corporate revealed GPT-4o and requested her to rethink, however launched the system anyway earlier than she had an opportunity to reply.
“The voice of Sky shouldn’t be Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was by no means meant to resemble hers,” an OpenAI spokesperson mentioned in an announcement despatched to Engadget that the corporate attributed to Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO. “We forged the voice actor behind Sky’s voice earlier than any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we’ve got paused utilizing Sky’s voice in our merchandise. We’re sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn’t talk higher.”
Though “Sky” has been one of many voice assisstants in ChatGPT since September 2023, GPT-4o, which the corporate introduced final week, takes issues a step additional. The corporate mentioned that the brand new mannequin is nearer to “rather more pure human-computer interplay” and demoed its executives having almost human-like conversations with the voice assistant in ChatGPT. This invited comparisons to Samantha, the digital voice assistant performed by Johansson within the 2013 film Her who has an intimate relationship with a human being. Shortly after the occasion, Altman tweeted a single phrase — “her” — in an obvious reference to the movie.
On Monday, OpenAI said that it was pausing the usage of “Sky” in ChatGPT and launched a lengthy post revealing how the corporate employed skilled voice actors to create its personal digital assistants, and denying any similarities with Johansson’s voice.
“We consider that AI voices mustn’t intentionally mimic a celeb’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice shouldn’t be an imitation of Scarlett Johansson however belongs to a unique skilled actress utilizing her personal pure talking voice,” OpenAI wrote and added that every of its performers, who it declined to call for privateness causes, was paid “above top-of-market charges, and it will proceed for so long as their voices are utilized in our merchandise.”
This transfer, Johansson mentioned in her assertion, solely got here after she employed authorized counsel who wrote two letters to Altman and OpenAI asking for an evidence. “In a time once we are all grappling with deepfakes and the safety of our personal likeness, our personal work, our personal identities, I consider these are questions that deserve absolute readability,” Johansson wrote. “I stay up for decision within the type of transparency and the passage of applicable laws to assist make sure that particular person rights are protected.”
Replace, Could 20 2024, 9:09 PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate an announcement from OpenAI.
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