OpenAI made headlines by announcing its decision to withdraw one of its latest offerings, the ChatGPT 4o voice, due to its striking resemblance to the renowned actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice.
The newly unveiled artificial intelligence model showcased impressive capabilities, including engaging in realistic voice conversations and interacting seamlessly across text and image modalities. Among the several voices introduced, one named “Sky” garnered attention for its remarkable similarity to Johansson’s voice, famously recognized for her emotive portrayal of an AI in the acclaimed 2013 film “Her”.
Amidst mounting user observations noting the striking resemblance, OpenAI swiftly responded by initiating a “pause” on the utilization of the Sky voice.
“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” the company disclosed in a public release. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.”
While acknowledging the concerns expressed by the public, OpenAI emphasized the rigorous casting process undertaken to select voices for the model.
“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” OpenAI clarified in an informative blog post.
However, in a move to respect the privacy of the actress behind the Sky Voice, OpenAI chose not to disclose her identity.
Notably, following the unveiling, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman added to the intrigue with a cryptic post on X, hinting at the 2013 film “Her,” where Johansson voiced the AI assistant, by simply titling the post “her.”
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