OpenAI halts using ChatGPT's 'Sky' voice amid Scarlett Johansson row
The actress had alleged that OpenAI used a voice for their new ChatGPT 4o chatbot that she found “uncannily similar” to her own, despite having rejected the company’s plea to use her voice
OpenAI has stopped use of “Sky” in ChatGPT and detailed the process of developing five different AI voices after actress Scarlett Johansson alleged that OpenAI copied her voice when she turned down a request by CEO Sam Altman to licence it.
Altman responded in a statement that OpenAI “never intended” the “Sky” voice to resemble Scarlett Johansson. A voice actor had been cast before he contacted her, he said.
The actress had alleged that OpenAI used a voice for their new ChatGPT 4o chatbot that she found “uncannily similar” to her own, despite having rejected the company’s plea to use her voice.
Not intended: Altman
In a statement, Altman said that OpenAI “never intended” the Sky voice to resemble Scarlett Johansson. A voice actor had been cast before he contacted her, he said.
A report in The Washington Post claimed that when “OpenAI issued a casting call last year for a secret project to endow OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT with a human voice, the flier had several requests: The actors should be nonunion. They should sound between 25 and 45 years old.”
Later an actress was hired to create the Sky voice months before Sam Altman contacted Scarlett Johansson, the report claimed citing documents, recordings and casting directors. The agent said that the actress confirmed was not Scarlett Johansson and the name Sky was chosen to signal a cool, airy and pleasant sound, as per the report.
Earlier, the actress detailed her experience with the tech giant in a statement to NPR, a media organisation. NPR’s tech correspondent Bobby Allyn shared the statement on social media platform X.
Rejected OpenAI offer
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson stated. “He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”
Johansson declined the offer for personal reasons even though she was flattered by it. However, she was taken aback nine months later when she and those close to her noted the “uncanny similarity" between her voice and the voice of the newly released AI system, "Sky".
“When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson continued.
The situation escalated when Altman tweeted a cryptic reference to her role in the film ‘Her’, in which she voiced an AI named Samantha. This added to her suspicion that the similarity was intentional. Subsequently, she sought legal counsel, who sent letters to Altman and OpenAI, demanding transparency and the removal of the “Sky” voice.
