By Daybreak Chmielewski and Anna Tong
Scarlett Johansson on Monday accused OpenAI of making a voice for the ChatGPT system that sounded “eerily related” to the actress after she declined to voice the chatbot herself.
Johansson made the feedback in a press release launched hours after the synthetic intelligence firm mentioned it was taking down the voice, known as ‘Sky.’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned in a press release emailed to Reuters on Monday that Sky’s voice was not an imitation of Johansson, however belonged to a unique skilled actress.
“The voice of Sky is just not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was by no means meant to resemble hers. We solid the voice actor behind Sky’s voice earlier than any outreach to Ms. Johansson,” Altman mentioned.
“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.”
The battle over rights to actors’ voices and pictures has turn out to be a spotlight in Hollywood as studios contemplate how one can use AI to create new leisure and because the computer-produced pictures and sounds turn out to be tough to tell apart from these of people.
Johansson within the assertion mentioned Altman had approached her final September and supplied to rent her to voice a ChatGPT voice — a proposal she declined.
“9 months later, my buddies, household and most people all famous how a lot the latest system named ‘Sky’ appeared like me,” she mentioned.
“After I heard the launched demo, I used to be shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily much like mine that my closest buddies and information retailers couldn’t inform the distinction.”
Johansson added that Altman had “insinuated that the similarity was intentional” by tweeting a reference to “her,” the 2013 film a few man who develops a relationship with an AI assistant voiced by the actress.
Johansson’s be aware was printed by journalists from NPR and different information retailers. Her publicist additionally shared it with Reuters.
OpenAI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark after Johansson’s assertion. She mentioned that she had employed authorized counsel to ask concerning the course of of making the voice.
OpenAI confirmed off its latest AI mannequin, known as GPT-4o, final week, with audio capabilities that allow customers communicate to the chatbot and acquire real-time responses, marking a major development in additional sensible sounding AI conversations.