OpenAI pulls voice that sounds like Scarlett Johansson from ChatGPT

OpenAI has pulled a feature from its latest GPT-4o chatbot following concerns over how one of the voices of the AI assistant sounded “eerily similar” to actor Scarlett Johansson.

In a scene right out of an episode of popular sci-fi series Black Mirror, the Hollywood actress had accused OpenAI of using her voice for the AI assistant, ‘Sky’, even after she told them not to.

The actress’s lawyers demanded answers about how the platform developed the voice for the chatbot, and to list the exact procedure they followed to create the voice that — according to Johansson and many people on the internet — imitates her likeness.

“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them,” the company said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.

Read more about how we chose these voices: https://t.co/R8wwZjU36L

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 20, 2024

The company explained in a blog post how the voices for ChatGPT were chosen, while emphasizing that Sky’s voice “is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.”

“To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents,” the company added.

After the technology was unveiled on 13 May, netizens did a double take and noticed Sky’s uncanny resemblance to Johansson’s voice as the omniscient operating system Samantha in Spike Jonze’s 2013 sci-fi venture Her, a film about an introverted man falling in love with an AI assistant that has the ability to learn and adapt.

Altman also fueled the comparisons by posting on X (formerly Twitter) after the technology was unveiled, the single word “her”.

her

— Sam Altman (@sama) May 13, 2024

Johansson said, in a statement to NPR, that OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman had approached her back in September 2023 in order to get her to voice the now viral chatbot.

Altman pitched Johansson on the idea that she could be a bridge between the technological and artistic communities, and make AI integration more approachable for the public.

Stating that the actress’s voice would be “comforting” to people, Altman had tried to persuade Johansson for months.

After much consideration the actress refused the proposal, citing personal reasons.

“Nine months later, my friends, family, and the general public all noted how much the newest system ‘Sky’ sounded like me,” said Johansson.

She also said that just two days before the launch of the demo, Altman had contacted her agent to see if she was willing to reconsider but the demo was out there before they could connect.

“When I heard the released demo, 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 could not tell the difference,” she said.

Johansson shared that her legal counsel had written two letters to Altman, asking questions about the process by which OpenAI created the ‘Sky’ voice, after which the company agreed to take down the voice from their platform. 

OpenAI, in an attempt to backtrack, shared in a blog post on May 19, that the voice options, Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper, and Sky, were all created in collaboration with voice actors.

“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,” said OpenAI.

“To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.”

With the integration of human-sounding voices in interactive AI, the concerns raised by thousands of actors — about how AI was going to squeeze them out of an already competitive industry — during the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike seem more relevant than ever. 

Johansson also used the incident to champion for clearer rules to protect artists rights over their own likeness and identities.

“In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected,” she said.