David Bridges
OpenAI solid the actor of Sky’s voice months earlier than Sam Altman contacted Scarlett Johansson, and it had no intention of discovering somebody who gave the impression of her, in accordance with The Washington Publish. The publication mentioned the flier OpenAI issued final yr regarded for actors that had “heat, participating [and] charismatic” voices. They wanted to be between 25 and 45 years outdated and needed to be non-union, however OpenAI reportedly did not specify that it was in search of a Scarlett Johansson voice-alike. For those who’ll recall, Johansson accused the corporate of copying her likeness with out permission for its Sky voice assistant.
The agent of Sky’s voice instructed The Publish that the corporate by no means talked about Johansson or the film Her with their expertise. OpenAI apparently did not tweak the actor’s recordings to sound like Johansson both, as a result of her pure voice gave the impression of Sky’s, primarily based on the clips of her preliminary voice check that The Publish had listened to. OpenAI product supervisor Joanne Jang instructed the publication that the corporate chosen actors who had been wanting to work on AI. She mentioned that Mira Murati, the corporate’s Chief Expertise Officer, made all the choices in regards to the AI voices venture and that Altman was not intimately concerned within the course of.
Jang additionally instructed the publication that to her, Sky sounded nothing like Johansson. Sky’s actress instructed The Publish by means of her agent that she simply used her pure voice and that she has by no means been in comparison with Johansson by the individuals who know her intently. However in an announcement Johansson’s workforce shared with Engadget, she mentioned that she was shocked OpenAI pursued a voice that “sounded so eerily related” to hers that her “closest mates and information shops couldn’t inform the distinction” after she turned down Altman’s supply to voice ChatGPT.
Johansson mentioned that Altman first contacted her in September 2023 with the supply after which reached out once more simply two days earlier than the corporate launched GPT-4o to ask her to rethink. Sky has been considered one of ChatGPT’s voices since September, however GPT-4o gave it the ability to have extra human-like conversations with customers. That made its similarities to Johansson’s voice extra obvious — Altman tweeting “her” after OpenAI demonstrated the brand new massive language mannequin did not assist with the state of affairs and invited extra comparisons to the AI digital assistant Johansson voiced within the film. OpenAI has paused utilizing Sky’s voice “out of respect” for Johansson’s considerations, it wrote in a weblog put up. The actor mentioned, nevertheless, that the corporate solely stopped utilizing Sky after she employed authorized counsel who wrote Altman and the corporate to ask for an evidence.
For those who’re questioning if Sky really does sound like Johansson, we embedded a video under so you possibly can choose for your self. It is a recording of Johansson’s assertion as learn by the Sky voice assistant, posted by Victor Mochere on YouTube. Opinions within the remark part are divided, with some saying that it does sound like her if she had been robotic, whereas others say that the voice sounds extra like Rashida Jones.
Daniel Mercer
Brandon Fletcher
