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By Lauren Moon Creator Culture THE CULT May 30, 2024
There is a battle brewing between Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI, and it’s raising new questions about CEO Sam Altman’s credibility.
The sequence of events surrounding ChatGPT’s voice feature is causing some to lose trust in OpenAI. The company recently released an update for ChatGPT 4.0, and it is arguably the most advanced Artificial Intelligence language processing model yet, featuring voice and video capabilities with remarkable accuracy and precision. However, what about the voice operator is causing so much controversy?
Moments after the update’s release, CEO Altman posted on X (formerly Twitter) with the single word “Her,” prompting immediate speculation about a connection to Scarlett Johansson. The uncanny similarity of ChatGPT’s voice (Sky) to Johansson’s voice brings serious questions about his inspiration and integrity.
@beard.of.legends They’ve changed how the #skyvoice sounds in the live chat but she still sounds like #scarlettjohansson in the settings menu #openai #chatgpt #news #chatvoice #samaltman #microsoft
♬ original sound – beard of legends
In Spike Jonze’s 2013 sci-fi film “Her,” the AI girlfriend is voiced by Scarlett Johansson whose voice distinctly resembles Sky of ChatGPT. In 2023, Altman mentioned that the movie resonated with him differently than other sci-fi movies about AI. With this context, it is plausible to suspect that Sky’s voice is inspired by Johansson’s character in “Her.” However, Altman stands firm on his truth, stating, “The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson.”
While Sky’s voice may not be an exact match to Johansson’s, evidence of Altman’s connection to the movie “Her” and Johansson suggests otherwise. Johansson claims that Altman reached out to her agent on two different occasions asking permission to use her voice, which was rejected both times. She has since involved lawyers to verify Altman’s intentions.
Altman’s trustworthiness has been questioned before. Last Fall, OpenAI’s board of directors fired Altman due to their lack of confidence in his leadership, stating that “he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board,” which “hindered its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” However, Altman has since rejoined the board and now faces new allegations: denying the intentional mimicking of Scarlett Johansson’s voice in the latest ChatGPT 4.0 update.
Like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana, there appears to be a preference for friendly female voices as digital AI assistants. A feminine voice that is more upbeat and polite aligns with the psychology that people prefer a female voice for their digital interactions. Research shows that people respond more positively to a woman’s tone than a man’s, leading many companies to leverage this aspect of social psychology to attract a larger audience.
Johansson states that Altman expressed his belief to her that “by 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.”
While experts and tech professionals have shared concerns that companies like OpenAI could pose an existential threat, its systems are creating rapid and transformative shifts. The new ChatGPT 4.0 model revolutionizes code generation and language, with enhanced creative and innovative capacities that allow it to “generate, edit, and iterate with users on creative and technical writing tasks, such as composing songs, writing screenplays, or learning a user’s writing style.”
In our hyper-technological world, the question becomes to what extent should we permit AI and its companies to misuse and abuse human privacy and control? Especially at a time when we are confronted with deepfakes and computer-generated impersonations, public figures like Johansson must take extra measures to protect their voices, work, and identities, and the issue continues to grow outside of using a celebrity’s likeness. Now, companies and users have the potential to create believable content of those with influence, like politicians and news networks, enabling everyday users the power to control public thought with falsehoods. Altman’s desire to give his creation some consciousness reveals more of the dark side of technology and the exploiting power of AI.
As ChatGPT becomes the fastest-growing web application and one of the world’s leading technologies, this issue with Altman can create a larger disconnect and distrust of artificial intelligence.
