OpenAI Denies Imitation Allegations
"Used Professional Voice Actor's Voice for Recording"
ChatGPT developer OpenAI has decided to temporarily suspend the voice usage of its latest AI service, ChatGPT-4o. This decision comes amid concerns that the AI's voice closely resembles that of actress Scarlett Johansson.
On the 19th (local time), OpenAI stated on its blog, "We have received many questions about how we chose the voice for ChatGPT, especially Sky," adding, "We have begun work to temporarily suspend the use of Sky while we address the issue."
Sky is the voice module of ChatGPT-4o. ChatGPT-4o is a new AI model capable of natural conversation by exchanging words with people, and it introduced a human voice to facilitate communication. The AI service has been praised as a realization of the AI depicted in the 2013 film Her.
The issue was with Sky's voice. The AI voice featured in Her was recorded by Scarlett Johansson, and concerns arose that ChatGPT-4o's voice is too similar to hers. Some speculated that OpenAI deliberately made Sky's voice resemble Scarlett Johansson's to evoke the film Her.
In fact, OpenAI has often linked ChatGPT-4o with Her in its marketing. Before the release of ChatGPT-4o, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a brief message saying "her" on his X account.
However, OpenAI denies allegations that it intentionally created an AI voice imitating Scarlett Johansson. In its blog post, OpenAI clarified, "Sky's voice is not an imitation of any actor; rather, we borrowed the voice of another professional actor to create a natural AI voice."
That said, OpenAI added that it cannot share detailed information about the professional actor who provided Sky's voice "to protect personal privacy." To create Sky's voice, OpenAI reportedly conducted casting and recording over five months. Approximately 400 voice actors and film actors participated in the casting process.
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