Scarlett Johansson: Sam Altman said my voice was comforting

This Monday, May 20th, OpenAI has decided to remove its voice called Sky from ChatGPT after she looked dangerously like Scarlett Johansson.

Sam Altman himself admitted that this voice is dangerous because it can cause confusion among users, as in the film Her.

And the famous actress released a statement in which, on the one hand, she admitted that she was contacted by OpenAI in September 2023 to provide her voice to ChatGPT, and also admitted that she was relieved that this did not happen.

“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to provide voice-over work for the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson wrote in a statement that a representative shared with NBC News. “He told me that he believes by giving the system a voice, he can bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers come to terms with the seismic changes associated with people and artificial intelligence. “He said he felt my voice would comfort people.”

“After much consideration and for personal reasons, I have declined this offer,” he continued. “Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public have noticed how similar the new system, called Sky, is to me.”

Johansson lent her voice to an artificially intelligent chatbot in the 2013 film “Her,” which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman referenced in connection with the company’s new voice offerings, which Johansson noted in her statement.

“When I heard the demo released, I was shocked, angry and incredulous that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that was so similar to mine that my closest friends and the media couldn’t tell the difference,” Johansson wrote in on your blog. release. Altman’s announcement of the new product was published on X on the same day as the product demo and is still active today. In his statement, he continued: “Mr. Altman even hinted that the similarity was intentional by tweeting the one word ‘she,’ a reference to the film in which he voiced chat system Samantha forming an intimate relationship with a person.”

her

—Sam Altman (@sama) May 13, 2024

“Two days before the release of the ChatGPT 4.0 demo, Mr. Altman contacted my agent and asked me to reconsider my decision. Before we could connect, the system already existed,” Johansson wrote. “As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI outlining what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the voice of “Sky.” . “Therefore, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to remove “The Voice of Sky.”

“At a time when we’re all dealing with deepfakes and protecting our own image, our own work, our own identity, I think these are issues that deserve absolute clarity. “I hope that this issue will be resolved through transparency and the adoption of appropriate legislation that will help ensure the protection of individual rights,” concluded Johansson.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents more than 150,000 film and television artists, said in an email that it supports Johansson.

“We thank Ms. Johansson for speaking up on this issue of critical importance to all SAG-AFTRA members,” the spokesperson said. “We share your concerns and fully support your right to clarity and transparency regarding the voice used in the development of the GPT-4o “Sky” Chat device.