San Francisco, California – OpenAI has announced that it will be pausing the ChatGPT voice known as Sky, due to the striking resemblance it bears to the voice of actress Scarlett Johansson. The decision came after the voice gained attention from various media outlets and even was mentioned on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live.
In response to the controversy, OpenAI stated that they believe AI voices should not intentionally mimic the voices of celebrities, emphasizing that Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but rather belongs to a different professional actress using her natural speaking voice. The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, refuted any claims that the imitation of Johansson was deliberate in an interview with The Verge.
While OpenAI did not mention any legal issues arising from the similarity of their assistant’s voice to Johansson’s portrayal in the film “Her,” it has been reported that they have yet to receive any official complaints. The company has also not disclosed whether they have been in contact with Johansson’s representatives for further clarification.
The ChatGPT voice and the Sky voice model have been available for use since last year; however, they were recently showcased by OpenAI in conjunction with the launch of their new GPT-4o model. This new model introduces advancements that make the voice assistant more expressive and capable of reading facial expressions through a phone’s camera, as well as translating spoken language in real-time.
OpenAI’s casting process for the ChatGPT voice profiles involved reviewing over 400 submissions from voice and screen actors to select the final five profiles currently available. The company has chosen not to disclose the identities of the actors in order to protect their privacy.
Moving forward, OpenAI plans to release new ChatGPT voice assistant capabilities in the near future as a limited alpha release for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The company aims to introduce additional voices to cater to a wider range of user interests and preferences.