OpenAI to ‘pause’ voice linked to Scarlett Johansson


OpenAI plans to halt the use of one of its ChatGPT voices after some drew similarities to Johansson, who famously portrayed a fictional AI assistant in the (perhaps no longer so futuristic) film ‘Her’. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Movie star Scarlett Johansson said May 20 she was “shocked” by an OpenAI synthetic voice that sounds like her, which was released after she declined to work with the ChatGPT-maker on such a project.

The artificial intelligence powerhouse headed by Sam Altman said it was working on temporarily muting the Johannson-sounding voice it calls “Sky”.

“I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets couldn’t tell the difference,” Johannson said in a statement.

Johannson said Altman in September offered to hire her to work with OpenAI to create a synthetic voice, saying it might provide people comfort engaging with AI.

Altman has previously pointed to the Johansson-voiced character in the movie Her – a cautionary tale about the future in which a man falls in love with an AI chatbot – as inspiration for where he would like AI interactions to go.

Johannson said Altman insinuated the similarity in voices was intentional when at one point he fired off a single-word tweet on X: “Her.”

OpenAI said in a blog post that the “Sky” voice at issue was based on the natural speaking voice of a different professional actress and not meant to sound like Johansson.

“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice,” OpenAI said in the post.

“Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson.”

OpenAI is working on a way to “pause” Sky as it addresses what appears to be confusion about who it sounds like, the company said on X.

“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” OpenAI said.

Johansson said she has asked OpenAI for a detailed accounting of how “Sky” was made.

Risk team disbanded

The company explained that it worked with professional voice actors on synthetic voices it named Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper and Sky.

But Sky became the focus of attention last week when OpenAI released a higher-performing and even more humanlike “GPT-4o” version of the artificial intelligence technology that underpins ChatGPT.

In a demo, the new version of Sky was at times even flirtatious and funny, capable of seamlessly jumping from one topic to the next, unlike most existing chatbots.

So far in the AI frenzy, most tech giants have been reluctant to overly humanise chatbots.

Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi told AFP his company, which has a partnership with OpenAI, sought to make sure that AI was not “a he or a she”, but rather a “unique entity”.

“It should not be human. It shouldn’t breathe. You should be able to...understand (it) is AI,” he said.

Just days ago OpenAI said it disbanded a team devoted to mitigating the long-term dangers of artificial intelligence.

OpenAI began dissolving the so-called “superalignment” group weeks ago, integrating members into other projects and research.

Company co-founder Ilya Sutskever and superalignment team co-leader Jan Leike announced their departures from the San Francisco-based firm last week. – AFP

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

   

Next In Tech News

US regulator looks to put Google under federal supervision, Washington Post says
Fibre optic cables should be considered 'critical infrastructure' in Africa, Google says
EU fines Meta 797 million euros over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace
ASML CEO says AI boom benefits the company
Spain's La Vanguardia joins the Guardian in leaving X, citing 'toxic content'
Analysis-Crypto industry pushes for policy sea change after Trump victory
EU says Booking must comply with Digital Markets Act
Samsung Electronics says it reaches preliminary wage deal with union
Trump’s victory could ease regulatory path for Musk’s robotaxi, but hurdles remain
Siemens to cut up to 5,000 jobs in automation business after downturn

Others Also Read