The resemblance between Johansson's voice and Sky's has sparked a debate over whether OpenAI intentionally designed the AI voice to mimic the actress. Johansson has accused OpenAI of copying her voice for its latest version of ChatGPT, and claims that the company twice reached out to her to license her voice for the AI. OpenAI, however, denies that Sky was created with Johansson in mind and maintains that it hired a voice actress to develop Sky's voice months before reaching out to Johansson. The company has paused its Sky voice amidst the controversy.
Key takeaways:
- An analysis conducted by researchers at Arizona State University found that actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice bears a striking resemblance to OpenAI’s now-pulled “Sky” personal assistant.
- The researchers found that Johansson's voice is more similar to Sky than 98% of the other actresses they compared it to, but also noted that the voices of Anne Hathaway and Keri Russell were often rated as more similar to the AI.
- OpenAI has paused its Sky voice amid accusations from Johansson that the company copied her voice for its latest version of ChatGPT. OpenAI maintains that Sky was not created with Johansson in mind and was not meant to mimic her.
- Johansson claims that OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, twice reached out to her attempting to license her voice for ChatGPT, but she declined the offer. OpenAI says it hired a voice actress to help develop the Sky voice months before Altman began reaching out to Johannson.