OpenAI has made the decision to remove the “Sky” voice from its AI system, GPT-4o, following claims by actress Scarlett Johansson that the voice was intentionally designed to sound like her own. The artificial intelligence and machine learning research company refuted the claim, stating that the resemblance was purely coincidental.
According to the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, who contested Johansson’s allegations, GPT-4o’s voices were chosen from 400 submissions from various voice actors, and the objective similarity to any existing voice was unintentional. In a blog post explaining how the voices for GPT-4o were developed, OpenAI clearly stated, “We firmly believe that AI voices should not willingly mimic a high-profile individual’s distinctive voice. Sky’s voice is not a facsimile of Scarlett Johansson’s but rather the voice of a professional voice actor using her authentic speaking voice.”
However, Johansson was not convinced and pursued legal action to determine the truth about the origin of Sky’s voice. In a detailed statement, Johansson shared that Altman had initially reached out to her in September seeking her consent to lend her voice to the ChatGPT 4.0 system. The actress declined this offer due to personal reasons. She noted that nine months later, her friends, family, and the public began commenting on the striking similarity between her voice and that of Sky.
Johansson’s suspicion, she expressed, was further aroused when Altman subtly referenced the movie “Her” – of which Johansson was the voice talent for the AI character – on social media following the announcement of GPT-4o.
Despite all of this, Altman still maintained that OpenAI did not intentionally infringe on Johansson’s vocal likeness. He reiterated in a statement to The Verge, “Sky’s voice isn’t Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never meant to sound like hers. The voice actress for Sky was selected prior to our proposal to Ms. Johansson. Nevertheless, out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have stopped using Sky’s voice in our products. We regret our failure to communicate better.”
Upon launching Voice Mode for GPT-4o, users may notice a difference from the original demo, due to OpenAI’s decision to discontinue the use of Sky’s voice in order to respect Johansson’s wishes.
