Scarlett Johansson says a ChatGPT voice is ‘eerily similar’ to hers

On Monday, OpenAI announced that they will discontinue the use of a ChatGPT voice that has been compared to the way Scarlett Johansson speaks. The actor expressed her discomfort with the voice, stating that it sounded "spookily alike" to her own.

OpenAI recently made a statement on X social media platform, stating that they are making efforts to temporarily stop one of the five voice options available to ChatGPT users, which is named Sky. The company mentioned that they have received inquiries regarding the process of selecting the realistic audio options for their primary AI chatbot, and they want to clarify any doubts regarding Sky.

Johansson, who is well-known for playing the voice of a made-up AI helper in the futuristic flick "Her" that came out in 2013, was one of many people who had doubts.

According to Johansson's statement, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman approached her in September. Altman asked her if she would provide her voice for their system, as he thought it would put people's minds at ease who weren't comfortable with the technology. Johansson rejected the offer.

Johansson expressed her surprise, frustration, and lack of trust when she first listened to the demo that was made available. She was taken aback that Mr. Altman chose a voice that bore such a striking resemblance to hers that even her closest friends and media outlets could not distinguish between them.

According to her, OpenAI agreed to remove the Sky voice but only after she sought legal assistance and her lawyers wrote a letter inquiring about the methodology that the company used to create the voice. She noted that OpenAI appeared hesitant to comply with the request.

OpenAI wrote a blog post to clarify the false rumors on the internet about Johansson. The blog accompanied its previous announcement about how ChatGPT chooses its voices. The company stated that AI voices should not intentionally imitate the unique voice of a celebrity. Also, OpenAI stated that the voice of Sky is spoken by another professional actress, not Johansson. However, the company did not reveal the identity of the actress to protect her privacy.

Altman, in a statement sent to The Associated Press after Johansson replied on Monday, remarked that they chose the voice actor for Sky without getting in touch with Johansson first.

Altman clarified that Sky's voice was not meant to sound like Scarlett Johansson, and they didn't intend to create any resemblance with her voice. As a gesture of respect towards Ms. Johansson, they have halted the use of Sky's voice in their merchandise. Altman expressed apologies to Ms. Johansson for the miscommunication on their part.

In September, OpenAI, located in San Francisco, introduced voice features for ChatGPT, which included five unique voices. This allowed users to converse with the AI assistant in a dialogue manner. Originally, "Voice Mode" was a feature only available to those who had paid for a subscription, but in November, OpenAI declared that the functionality would be made accessible to all users using the mobile application free of charge.

The conversations on ChatGPT are becoming increasingly advanced. Recently, OpenAI announced that its generative AI technology has been updated to mimic the natural rhythm of human speech, and can even try to perceive the emotions of its users.

According to OpenAI, their latest model called GPT-4o is faster than its predecessors and can analyze text, audio, and video in real-time. During the announcement on May 13, the artificially intelligent bot showcased its skills by engaging in real-time conversation and intensifying its voice with more emotion as directed. It even attempted to deduce a person's emotional state by analyzing a selfie video of their face. Additionally, it helped with language translations and solving mathematical problems step-by-step.

The GPT-4o, which stands for "omni," is still not readily available for everyone. It will gradually become accessible to specific users within the next few weeks and months. Its text and image features are currently being released and will also be accessible to some ChatGPT's free users. However, only ChatGPT Plus's paying subscribers can use the new voice mode.

Even though there are many people who haven't tried out the latest features that were just announced, there are already a lot of comparisons being made to the movie "Her" directed by Spike Jonze. The movie is about a man named Joaquin Phoenix who is shy and ends up falling in love with an operating system that is controlled by AI named Johansson. This causes a lot of problems for him.

Altman seemed to also recognize this, as they only posted the single term "her" on social media platform X on the same day that GPT-4o was revealed.

Numerous individuals who watched the model's demonstrations last week also noticed that some of the exchanges had a peculiarly flirtatious vibe. One of the videos published by OpenAI featured a female-voiced ChatGPT offering compliments to a staff member for "rocking an OpenAI hoodie," while in another, the chatbot replied, "oh stop it, you're making me blush" after being praised.

This has started a discussion about the gender-based methods critics claim tech companies have used for quite some time to create and communicate with voice assistants, even before the latest developments of AI chatbots. The UN's culture and science group brought attention to the ingrained subservience present in default female-voiced assistants such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, which are programmed to accept sexist comments and harassment.

Last week, Desi Lydic, a senior correspondent on The Daily Show, commented on GPT-40, saying that it was designed to boost men's egos. She further added that the technology seemed to be created solely by a man.

OpenAI has entered into a technology agreement with the Associated Press which gives them access to a segment of the AP's collection of written records, as well as a license to use it.

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