ChatGPT slams brakes on flirty chatbot voice after 'shocked' Scarlett Johansson makes serious complaint

Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson has complained that "Sky", one of a series of new voice options added to ChatGPT in the latest free update from OpenAI is too close to her own

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Aaron Brown

By Aaron Brown


Published: 21/05/2024

- 13:30

OpenAI had approached the Hollywood superstar to voice its AI assistant last year

OpenAI, the start-up behind the immensely powerful ChatGPT chatbot, has suspended one of its latest innovations after it received a complaint from Hollywood A-lister, Scarlett Johansson.

The Academy Award-nominated actor has spoken out about how “shocked” and “angered” she was when she discovered how “eerily similar” one of the voices in ChatGPT sounded to her own.

Joaquin Phoenix is pictured sitting in front of his computer talking to an AI chatbot in the film Her

During the event, several industry watchers compared the latest innovations in ChatGPT-4o to "Her", a Hollywood film from 2013 that followed Joaquin Phoenix's character Theodore Twombly as he develops a romantic attachment with an AI chatbot, who speaks to him via an earpiece and via his computer, voiced by Scarlett Johansson

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OpenAI announced the ability to have conversations with its new ChatGPT-4o model at an event earlier this month. In one demo, an employee complimented the 'bot on its usefulness, with the AI assistant responding "Oh stop it! You're making me blush!".

Many compared the flirtatious interaction to the film Her, which follows a man who develops a romantic relationship with his virtual assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

A number of ChatGPT users had already commented on a similarity between Scarlett Johansson’s voice and one of the new voice options in the software, dubbed "Sky". Following the complaint from the Marvel superstar herself, OpenAI confirmed that it would “pause” the voice for ChatGPT users worldwide.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, OpenAI said: “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.”

In a statement issued following that post, Scarlett Johansson revealed that OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman had approached her last year to ask whether she would be comfortable lending her voice to the AI system, saying he felt it would be “comforting to people” not at ease with the technology.

“He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and Al,” the actress know for her roles in Lost In Translation and Black Widow said. “After much consideration and for personal reasons, (I) declined the offer.”

The statement continued: “Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me. 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 OpenAI “reluctantly” agreed to take down the Sky voice after she hired lawyers who wrote Mr Altman letters asking about the process by which the company came up with the voice.

In a blog post published alongside its X message, the artificial intelligence giant said: “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.

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

The post added each of the voices ChatGPT uses “has been carefully selected through an extensive process spanning five months involving professional voice actors, talent agencies, casting directors, and industry advisers”.

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The company said it had spoken to each shortlisted voice actor about the technology’s capabilities and limitations, as well as its risks and the safeguards the company has in place before deciding on the final five who would be used in the app.

OpenAI unveiled its new AI model, named GPT-4o, last week, with a highlight of the update being the more conversational, human-sounding responses the app’s various voices would now be able to give. Those updated features have not yet been rolled out, but are due to reach paying Chat-GPT subscribers in the coming weeks.

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