Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, is suddenly faced with a foe more formidable than any member of his company's board of directors: Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson.
The actor said in a statement in September that Altman asked her to voice ChatGPT's text-to-speech product because he was “comfortable” with her voice, but she declined the offer, according to the New York Times. announced. Nine months later, when ChatGPT announced its voice product, one of its options looked so much like Johansson herself that she was “shocked, angry, and my closest friends were eerily surprised.” I can't believe that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that resembles mine.” And the press couldn't tell the difference. ”
In a statement to the Times, Johansson added that he hired a lawyer to ask Altman how the company created the audio OpenAI calls Sky. Altman has professed to be a fan of the 2013 film Her, in which Johansson starred as a talking robot.
Launched in 2023, the company's so-called voice mode feature allows users to interact by speaking to ChatGPT, a widely used “generative” artificial intelligence software. It also functions as a text-to-speech tool that reads the user's responses to her prompts in one of five different voice options.
OpenAI's Altman said Sky is not Johansson's, but said the company is suspending its use to answer user questions about how audio is selected and sampled in ChatGPT.
Altman even went so far as to say that Sky's voice was “never intended to resemble her voice,” in a statement provided to CBS MoneyWatch on Tuesday: “We cast a voice actor for Sky before contacting Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused the use of Sky's voice in our products. We apologize to Ms. Johansson for not communicating better.”
The company announced on Monday that it would suspend the use of Sky on X (formerly Twitter).
In a blog post late Sunday, OpenAI detailed how it comes up with the various voices and reiterated that the Sky option uses the voice of an actor who is not Johansson.
“We believe that AI voices should not intentionally imitate a celebrity's signature voice. Skye's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson, but rather another professional actress “Voice actors use natural speaking voices. To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice actors,” the company said in a post.
OpenAI worked with casting experts and voice actors to narrow down the final five voices from 400 choices. The company noted that actors will be paid as long as their voices are used in ChatGPT's products. Winners were chosen based on a variety of criteria, including timelessness and ease of voice.
Johansson said through a spokesperson on Monday that Altman had contacted her about speaking out about the system last September, but that she “declined the offer.” She said Altman contacted his agent again two days before the audio demo was released and “asked him to reconsider,” but the audio was released “before he could get in touch.”
“When I heard the public demo, I was shocked, angry, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice so eerily similar to mine that close friends and the press could not tell it apart,” Johansson said. he said. “Mr. Altman hinted that this resemblance was intentional, tweeting the word 'she'.” It’s named after.”
Johansson said he had his attorney contact Altman and OpenAI and “ask for details of the exact process that created the 'Sky' voice.” After those requests, the audio was deleted, Johansson said.
Some users lamented the company's decision to temporarily disable Sky, calling it their “best” or “favorite” voice. If the audio was sampled from a paid actor, it's unclear why the company felt it necessary to remove it. OpenAI has not said when audio will be available again.
