OpenAI pulls in its Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT

OpenAI pulls a ChatGPT voice that sounds remarkably similar to Scarlett Johansson after several headlines (and even Saturday Night LiveNote the similarity. The company says the audio, known as Sky, has now been paused.

“We believe that AI voices should not intentionally mimic the distinctive voice of a celebrity – Skye’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress who uses her natural speaking voice.” OpenAI wrote This morning.

OpenAI’s CTO, Mira Moratti, denied that the imitation of Johansson was intentional in an interview with the edge last week. Even if Johansson’s voice wasn’t directly referenced, it was apparently OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Already informed One similarity is that he posted a one-word message “she” on X after the event. Altman has He said previously That Spike Jones Hain which Scarlett Johansson stars as the voice of a sexy virtual assistant, is his favorite movie.

OpenAI did not say whether it has received any communications about potential legal issues or challenges related to the similarities between its assistance and Johansson or the role it plays in Ha. the edge I have reached out to Johansson’s rep for comment.

ChatGPT’s voice mode and Sky voice model have been around since last year. But the feature became more prominent last week, when OpenAI showcased its advances as part of its new GPT-4o model. The new model makes the voice assistant more expressive and allows it to read facial expressions through the phone’s camera and translate spoken language in real time.

The five currently available ChatGPT audio profiles were selected from more than 400 submissions from audio and screen actors, according to OpenAI. The company refused to reveal the names of the actors, citing the need to “protect their privacy.”

The new ChatGPT voice assistant capabilities will be released “in the coming weeks” as a limited “alpha” release to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. OpenAI eventually plans to introduce additional voices to “better match users’ diverse interests and preferences.”