ChatGPT Suspends Scarlett Johansson-Like Voice Amid Actor’s Outcry

"OpenAI Suspends Scarlett Johansson-like Voice In ChatGPT Amid Objections"

According to a statement made by Johansson, OpenAI had asked her nine months ago to lend her voice to their AI system. However, due to personal reasons, she turned down the offer. She was surprised to find out that they had created an option named "Sky" which sounded exactly like her voice. This was confirmed by her friends and various news sources.

After receiving negative feedback, OpenAI decided to take down the highly advertised Sky voice feature from ChatGPT on Monday. During a well-known event last week, the company displayed Sky as a way of presenting the capabilities of the latest ChatGPT-4o model. The voice was quickly compared to the AI companion character played by Johansson in the 2013 movie "Her."

There was some disagreement regarding OpenAI's virtual assistant Sky. CEO Sam Altman tweeted the word "her" after the presentation, suggesting that Sky was intended to resemble Scarlett Johansson's character. This caused some controversy. However, OpenAI later clarified that Sky wasn't actually based on Johansson. The voice was provided by a different actress, who used her normal speaking voice. OpenAI decided not to reveal the names of their voice actors to protect their privacy.

In simpler terms, Johansson said that Altman first presented the idea to her, implying that her voice could improve the relationship between technology and creative industries while also increasing people's acceptance of AI. A couple of days prior to the release of Sky, Altman contacted Johansson's agent once more to ask if she would change her mind. Later on, Johansson's legal team contacted OpenAI and requested that they get rid of her voice.

Not only was Sky criticized for being too similar to Johansson, but some critics, like Desi Lydic of The Daily Show, found fault with the voice for being excessively flattering and gender-specific. Lydic even quipped that it was clear "a male was responsible for creating this technology."

OpenAI has justified their decision-making process concerning the voice selected for ChatGPT, affirming that they aimed to choose a voice that possessed a timeless quality that would encourage trust. The company evaluated countless entries before settling on five potential voices for ChatGPT, which were introduced to the public in September. The selected actors then took part in recording sessions to train OpenAI's models.

When Sky was removed, there was massive chaos within OpenAI. Many important members of the safety team also resigned during this time. A prominent researcher named Jan Leike accused the company of favoring "fancy products" over safety measures. However, the founders, Altman and Greg Brockman, reassured that they will not launch any product if it's not safe, regardless of anything.

The blog post from OpenAI talked about how they are working together with people from the entertainment field and ensuring that voice actors are paid accordingly. The tech industry, just like OpenAI, is being looked at closely and faced with legal issues from those in the entertainment business, as they fear that the use of AI could lead to breaches in copyright and loss of jobs for humans. Big unions in the entertainment space such as Sag-Aftra have even gone on strikes to address the use of AI in creating likenesses.