OpenAI removes one of the voices used by ChatGPT after users found it sounded similar to Scarlett Johansson, the company was announced on Monday. The voice, called Sky, is now on hiatus after OpenAI used it during the launch of the new GPT-4o model last week.
“We believe that AI voices should not intentionally imitate 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 voice,” the company wrote in a suspension. “To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.”
A video of the demonstration made the rounds on social media last week, with users finding the voice to be similar to Johansson’s. Some mocked the voice for existence overly flirtatiouswhile others likened it to a male fantasy.
The love voice has been compared to the 2013 film Her, in which Johansson voices a sultry virtual assistant. The film’s main character, played by Joaquin Phoenix, ends up falling in love with the virtual assistant.
Although the company hasn’t compared Sky’s voice to Johansson’s, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman he tweeted the word “Her” after the company event.
The demo was meant to showcase the chatbot’s enhanced conversational abilities, but it went viral after the husky voice laughed at almost everything an OpenAI employee said. At one point, the chatbot said to the employee, “Wow, that’s the outfit you’ve got on.” At another point, the chatbot said “Stop, you’re making me blush” after receiving a compliment.
In its blog post, OpenAI says it wants its chatbots’ voices to sound “approachable” and to “inspire trust.” He also wants them to have a “warm, engaging, charismatic voice that inspires confidence.”
In the future, OpenAI says it plans to “introduce additional voices to ChatGPT to better match the different interests and preferences of users.”
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