RIP ChatGPT’s knockoff Scarlett Johansson voice [2023 — 2024]

When confirmed off GPT-4o’s seemingly final week, observers had been that one in every of ChatGPT’s voices appears like Scarlett Johansson, significantly her character in Her. The corporate says the similarity between the flirty AI voice Sky (which it truly ) and Johansson was unintentional. Nevertheless, it is “working to pause the usage of Sky” whereas it addresses some questions concerning the voice.

“We imagine that AI voices mustn’t intentionally mimic a star’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice just isn’t an imitation of Scarlett Johansson however belongs to a special skilled actress utilizing her personal pure talking voice,” OpenAI detailing the way it picked ChatGPT’s 5 voices. “To guard their privateness, we can not share the names of our voice skills.” It added that every of the performers is paid “above top-of-market charges, and it will proceed for so long as their voices are utilized in our merchandise.”

For what it is price, shortly after OpenAI demoed the upgraded model of Sky, CEO Sam Altman posted the phrase “her” on X. However it’s positively “not an imitation.”

Johansson’s  is without doubt one of the extra well-known depictions of a digital voice assistant in cinema. The movie predated the conversational AI craze by round a decade, so it is not an excessive amount of of a shock that Johansson’s portrayal of a breezy, heat chatbot is successfully a template for present voice assistants. The actor beforehand that was stated to have used an AI-generated model of her voice and likeness in an advert.

It is unclear why precisely OpenAI eliminated Sky in the intervening time or what adjustments (if any) it plans to make earlier than restoring the voice in ChatGPT. Engadget has requested the corporate for remark.