OpenAI has announced that it will be pausing the use of the voice known as Sky in its ChatGPT AI language model following concerns raised over its similarity to actress Scarlett Johansson’s character in the movie Her. The controversy arose after people pointed out the uncanny resemblance between Sky’s voice and Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of the AI chatbot Samantha in the film.
The decision to pause the use of Sky was conveyed by OpenAI in a post on X, where the company acknowledged the questions surrounding the choice of voices in ChatGPT. According to OpenAI, the voices available on ChatGPT, including Sky, were selected from a pool of 400 submissions in May 2023 and officially launched on September 25, 2023.
The company clarified that Sky’s voice is not intended to be an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but rather belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice. In an effort to protect the privacy of the voice actors involved, OpenAI refrained from disclosing their names but emphasized that the voices were carefully sampled to create a diverse range of options for users, including Breeze, Cove, Ember, and Juniper.
GPT-4o, OpenAI’s new multimodal AI language model, is designed to engage in conversations in a more human-like manner. However, the controversy surrounding Sky’s voice has prompted the company to reassess its choice and address the concerns raised by the public.
As OpenAI works to address the controversy surrounding the use of Sky’s voice in ChatGPT, users can expect to see updates on how the voices for the Voice Mode in GPT-4o are selected and integrated into the platform. The decision to pause the use of Sky reflects OpenAI’s commitment to ensuring that AI voices do not mimic celebrities’ distinctive voices and instead offer unique and authentic experiences for users.
