OpenAI to remove ChatGPT’s Scarlett Johansson-like voice
OpenAI is removing one of the voices used by ChatGPT after users found that it sounded similar to Scarlett Johansson, the company announced on Monday. The voice, called Sky, is now being paused after OpenAI used it when demoing its new GPT-4o model last week.
âWe believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrityâs distinctive voiceâSkyâs voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,â the company wrote in a blog post. âTo protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.â
A video of the demo made the rounds on social media last week as users found the voice to be similar to Johanssonâs. Some mocked the voice for being overly flirtatious, while others likened it to a male fantasy.
The flirty voice has drawn comparisons to the 2013 film âHer,â in which Johansson voices a sultry virtual assistant. The filmâs main character, played by Joaquin Phoenix, ends up falling in love with the virtual assistant.
Although the company hasnât compared Skyâs voice to Johanssonâs, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted the word âHerâ following the companyâs event.
The demo aimed to showcase the chatbotâs enhanced conversational abilities, but went viral after the sultry voice giggled at almost everything an OpenAI employee was saying. At one point, the chatbot told the employee: âWow, thatâs quite the outfit youâve got on.â At another point, the chatbot said, âStop it, youâre making me blushâ after receiving a compliment.
In its blog post, OpenAI says it wants its chatbotâs voices to sound âapproachableâ and to âinspire trust.â It also wants them to have a âwarm, engaging, confidence-inspiring, charismatic voice.â
Going forward, OpenAI says it plans to âintroduce additional voices in ChatGPT to better match the diverse interests and preferences of users.â
