OpenAI announced on Monday that it is pulling one of its latest ChatGPT 4o voices due to its resemblance to the voice of actor Scarlett Johansson.
The new AI model’s demo was released last week. It features realistic voice conversation and interaction across text and images.
Several voices are available in the latest ChatGPT mode, but one titled Sky caught users’ attention for its similarity to Johansson’s voice, reported The Verge. Johansson famously voiced an emotive AI in the 2013 film “Her.”
After reports of the resemblance, OpenAI announced it would “pause” the use of the Sky voice.
“We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” the company said in a statement. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.”
While acknowledging people’s concerns, the company ran an extensive casting process for the voices used in the model.
“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 natural voice,” OpenAI said in a blog post.
However, the company refused to disclose the actor’s identity to protect their privacy.
It is pertinent to mention that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X after the demo, “her,” seemingly referencing the 2013 film by Spike Jonze about a man falling in love with his AI assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
