‘Flirty’ AI voice pulled from ChatGPT after Scarlett Johansson says it sounds like her
Tech firm OpenAI has pulled the new female voice from its artificial intelligence chatbot that sounds “eerily” like Scarlett Johansson after angry complaints from the actress.
Johansson, the star of movies such as Lost in Translation and Marriage Story, said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” when she heard the voice, called ‘Sky’, on the updated ChatGPT.
The actress was alerted to the similarity after social media users pointed out the “flirty” voice had the personality and tone of Johansson’s character in Her, the 2013 film about a man who falls in love with an artificial intelligence system. The day the new voice was released, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman had posted on X with a single word: “her”.
Johansson, 39, said Mr Altman had originally requested that she record herself for the new chatbot feature because it would “comfort” people as they learnt to use AI. After she declined, an unnamed actor was paid to create the voice of ‘Sky’ – but OpenAI has since insisted the woman was using her “natural speaking voice” and not imitating the critically acclaimed film star.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson said in a statement on Monday evening.
“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 AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”
She added: “After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. 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.”
The incident showed legislation was needed to protect people from having their identities used without their permission, Johansson said.
“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,” she said.
OpenAI confirmed on Monday that it was pausing the new voice “while we address” questions about its creation.
Mr Altman, 39, said in a statement to Variety magazine that he was “sorry” that the company “didn’t communicate better” with Johansson.
“The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers,” he said.
In a post on X, the company linked to a blog that talked about how it had auditioned over 400 voice actors for the recording of ‘Sky’.
“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,” it said, adding that “to protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents”.
“We spoke with each actor about the vision for human-AI voice interactions and OpenAI, and discussed the technology’s capabilities, limitations, and the risks involved, as well as the safeguards we have implemented.
“It was important to us that each actor understood the scope and intentions of Voice Mode before committing to the project.”
Each actor “receives compensation above top-of-market rates” and would continue to do so “for as long as their voices are used in our products”, the company said.
Joanne Jang, who holds the position of “model behaviour lead” at the San Francisco-based company, previously said OpenAI had been in touch with representatives for Ms Johansson.
“We’ve been in conversations with ScarJo’s team because there seems to be some confusion. We want to take the feedback seriously and hear out the concerns,” Ms Jang, told The Verge, an online news site that covers technology.
The development is just the latest controversy to emerge as rival firms race to get ahead in the AI market, said to be globally worth 168.5bn in 2022. One estimate says that figure could grow to $2,760 billion (£2,200 billion) by 2032.
OpenAI is currently valued at $80 billion (£63 billion) by investors.
When the updated chatbot was released earlier this month, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati said the new model was “much faster,” with improved capabilities in text, video and audio. The company was said to be planning to allow users to video chat with ChatGPT.
