The company behind ChatGPT disbands its AI safety committee
Kurt ‘the CyberGuy’ Knutsson talks about OpenAI ending its safety task force, actress Scarlett Johansson’s claim that the company copied her voice, and the growing popularity of voice memos features on phones.
New revelations from an agent for the actress who voices “Sky” in ChatGPT have taken a turn in the public dispute between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI.
Johansson, an international superstar known for her roles in “The Avengers” and “Her,” accused the artificial intelligence company of imitating her voice in ChatGPT after she turned down an offer from CEO Sam Altman to use a human voice to voice an AI chatbot called Mode. But an agent for another actress who got the role said her client was never asked to imitate Johansson’s voice, according to the report. The Washington Post.
The actress’ agent said that when her client auditioned for ChatGPT, there was no mention of Johansson or the 2013 film “Her,” in which Johansson voices a virtual AI assistant. The agent also said that her client was hired to voice “Sky” months before Altman contacted Johansson, The Post reported.
A representative told the Post that the name “Sky” was chosen to “represent a cool, airy and pleasant sound.” According to the paper, the actress’ voice test audio recording sounded identical to the AI-generated SKYy voice.
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Actress Scarlett Johansson (L) and her husband, comedian Colin Jost, arrive at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 27, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Drew Ungerer/AFP via Getty Images)
Johansson released a statement Monday saying Altman contacted her in September about the possibility of being the voice of Chat GPT. Johansson claimed that Altman suggested her “soothing” voice could “bridge the gap between tech companies and creators” and contribute to “big changes when it comes to humans and AI.”
Johansson turned down the offer “after careful consideration and for personal reasons”, but was infuriated after several users commented that Sky’s sound system resembled “her” work.
“When I heard the public demonstration, I was shocked, angry, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice so eerily similar to mine that close friends and the press could not tell it apart. Mr. Altman The resemblance was intentional, as she tweeted the word “she,” a nod to the movie in which I played the voice of Samantha, a chat system that builds intimate relationships with humans. “There is,” the statement reads.
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Scarlett Johansson attends the New York premiere of ‘Asteroid City’ held at Alice Tully Hall on June 13, 2023 in New York City. (Taylor Hill/Film Magic)
Johansson revealed that she had hired lawyers for a potential lawsuit against OpenAI, and suggested that the lawyers’ requests for clarification led to OpenAI removing the “Sky” voice on Sunday.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Altman denied that Sky had tried to imitate Johansson’s voice.
“We cast a voice actor to voice Skye before approaching Mr. Johansson. Out of respect for Mr. Johansson, we have discontinued using Sky’s voice in our products. I apologize for the lack of communication,” Altman said.
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Scarlett Johansson played the fictional character Natasha Romanoff in multiple Marvel movies. (Disney)
Joan Zhang, product lead at OpenAi, told The Washington Post that Altman was on a world tour during the casting process for ChatGPT’s voice mode and was not closely involved.
The “Sky” actress issued a statement to The Washington Post through her agent, saying the backlash “seems personal because it’s my natural voice and I’ve never been compared to her by people who know me well.” “I feel like that,” he wrote.
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The unidentified voice actor said he knew in advance what voicing ChatGPT would involve.[W]”It was uncharted territory for me as a traditional voice actor, and honestly a little scary, but it’s an inevitable step towards the wave of the future,” she told The Post.
A representative for Johansson did not respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Lindsay Cornick contributed to this report.
