What that you must knowScarlett Johansson says she was approached by OpenAI final yr about utilizing her voice for a ChatGPT voice assistant. Though Johansson didn’t comply with the proposition, OpenAI shipped its GPT-4o mannequin with a voice referred to as “Sky” that sounds fairly much like Johansson‘s. After legal pressure, OpenAI removed Sky from GPT-4o, and said that the voice was not based on Johansson‘s. Still, in trying to use a friendly and welcoming voice to make AI feel more comforting, OpenAI ended up doing the opposite. OpenAI made waves last week when it announced GPT-4o, a multimodal AI model that may be the most advanced and futuristic one we’ve seen up to now. It seems like a human, can work together with customers by way of imaginative and prescient and audio, and is educated. OpenAI ended up beating Google to the punch, and GPT-4o appears extra superior than Project Astra, which Google previewed at Google I/O 2024.But one of many voices OpenAI selected for GPT-4o has been drawing consideration on-line for all of the unsuitable causes. First, some customers on social media identified they thought the voice “Sky” was overly flirty and sultry to the purpose it was unsettling. Then, folks began noticing the similarities between the voice of Sky and that of Scarlett Johansson, the award-winning actress. Now, it seems that might have been intentional.To be clear, OpenAI denies that the voice of Sky was primarily based on Johansson and even launched a weblog put up explaining how the voices have been chosen. However, Johansson put out a scathing assertion telling the story of how OpenAI approached her about formally voicing GPT-4o, which she declined. After dealing with authorized strain from Johansson’s legal professionals, the corporate eliminated the Sky voice possibility from GPT-4o. As distressing as this example is, it’s virtually ironic. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman informed Johansson that her voice, being the official voice of ChatGPT, could be extra comforting to customers. And but, by releasing a voice so much like Johansson‘s without her permission, Altman and OpenAI ended up perfectly encapsulating everything that makes people uncomfortable about AI. Did OpenAI steal Scarlett Johansson‘s voice?(Image credit: Jay Bonggolto / Android Central)Though OpenAI says that it sought out professional voice actors for GPT-4o and did not seek someone who sounded like Johansson specifically, the evidence might tell a different story. It starts in September 2023, according to Johansson, when OpenAI’s Altman reached out about hiring her as a voice actor for ChatGPT. “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 to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and Al,” she stated in a press release to NPR’s Bobby Allyn. “He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.”Johansson finally determined to not go ahead with voicing GPT-4o. However, it’s simple to listen to her resemblance within the Sky voice that ended up being demoed and shipped with the AI mannequin. To say that Johansson was displeased with the consequence could be an understatement. Get the newest information from Android Central, your trusted companion on the earth of AndroidAssertion from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI scenario. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8May 20, 2024“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice— Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,“ OpenAI said in a blog post. The whole reason that OpenAI wanted a voice like Johansson’s, as Altman is said to have told her, is to make AI more comforting. People may be more scared about AI than they are excited about it. Especially those in creative industries are finding that AI is being used to automate writing, visual art, music, and other mediums. This isn’t something unique to OpenAI — Apple recently came under fire and apologized for an advertisement that literally saw instruments being crushed into pieces and replaced with an iPad. By using her likeness in a GPT-4o voice without her permission — whether intentionally or unintentionally — OpenAI ended up validating the discomfort associated with AI that it was desperately trying to address. Creatives, from actors and actresses to writers and photographers, are worried about being replaced by AI. The idea that OpenAI could have mimicked Johansson‘s voice for GPT-4o is exactly the kind of thing that worries and alarms people in creative industries. “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 wrote, explaining that she requested OpenAI to indicate the way it developed the Sky voice. “In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity.”We shouldn’t need AI to sound this human(Image credit score: Future)Aside from the unsettling concept that an organization might rip off an actress‘ voice after disagreeing with a deal, there are other reasons why we don’t need AI voices to sound like Sky. All of OpenAI’s GPT-4o voices, and particularly Sky, sound very human-like. This is an issue, as a result of there’s a excessive stage of belief and familiarity folks have with human voices. When you discuss to a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa, it’s clear that you simply’re speaking to — for lack of a greater phrase — a robotic. After having a dialog with GPT-4o, that stage of readability gained’t all the time be at the back of your thoughts. Right now, AI fashions have an issue, and it’s that they confidently state their solutions as reality even when they’re blatantly unsuitable. People nonetheless find yourself believing AI responses as true regardless of the array of warnings that come together with them. As voices for AI fashions grow to be extra human-sounding, this downside will solely worsen. It’ll be simple for the typical person of an AI instrument to consider what’s being stated due to the welcoming human voice it makes use of. In making an attempt to make folks extra comfy with the way forward for AI, OpenAI ended up making it really feel extra dystopian. We shouldn’t need AI to sound as human as GPT-4o, and there are many the explanation why. It might foster an unwarranted stage of belief between customers and AI fashions, in addition to put creatives like Johansson In a precarious place.
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