Final week OpenAI revealed a brand new conversational interface for ChatGPT with an expressive, artificial voice strikingly much like that of the AI assistant performed by Scarlett Johansson within the sci-fi film Her—solely to instantly disable the brand new voice over the weekend.
On Monday, Johansson issued an announcement claiming to have pressured that reversal, after her legal professionals demanded OpenAI make clear how the brand new voice was created.
Johansson’s assertion, relayed to WIRED by her publicist, claims that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman requested her final September to supply ChatGPT’s new voice however that she declined. She describes being astounded to see the corporate demo a brand new voice for ChatGPT final week that appeared like her anyway.
“After I heard the discharge 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 mates and information retailers couldn’t inform the distinction,” the assertion reads. It notes that Altman appeared to encourage the world to attach the demo with Johansson’s efficiency by tweeting out “her,” in reference to the film, on Might 13.
Johansson’s assertion says her agent was contacted by Altman two days earlier than final week’s demo asking that she rethink her determination to not work with OpenAI. After seeing the demo, she says she employed authorized counsel to jot down to OpenAI asking for particulars of the way it made the brand new voice.
The assertion claims that this led to OpenAI’s announcement Sunday in a publish on X that it had determined to “pause using Sky,” the corporate’s identify for the artificial voice.
Sky is one in every of a number of artificial voices that OpenAI gave ChatGPT final September, however finally week’s occasion it displayed a way more lifelike intonation with emotional cues. The demo noticed a model of ChatGPT powered by a brand new AI mannequin referred to as GPT-4o seem to flirt with an OpenAI engineer in a approach that many viewers discovered harking back to Johansson’s efficiency in Her.
When requested why OpenAI had determined to disable Sky, Niko Felix, an OpenAI spokesperson, referred WIRED to a weblog publish additionally from Sunday outlining the method the corporate went via to decide on its voice. “Sky’s voice is just not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson however belongs to a distinct skilled actress utilizing her personal pure talking voice,” the publish says.
“For now, we’re pausing using Sky’s voice whereas we deal with some questions, however we hope to carry it again quickly,” Felix mentioned.
The battle with Johansson provides to OpenAI’s current battles with artists, writers, and different creatives. The corporate is already defending a variety of lawsuits alleging it inappropriately used copyrighted content material to coach its algorithms, together with fits from The New York Occasions and authors together with George R.R. Martin.
Generative AI has made it a lot simpler to create life like artificial voices, creating new alternatives and threats. In January, voters in New Hampshire have been bombarded with robocalls that includes a deepfaked voice message from Joe Biden. In March, OpenAI mentioned that it had developed a know-how that might clone somebody’s voice from a 15-second clip, however the corporate mentioned it might not launch the know-how due to the way it may be misused.
