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Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

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Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#321
post #58

I really hope she sues the company to hell and back. She has the resources to fight back and make an example of them, and they have the resources to make it worthwhile.

I'm not sure she can do much since OpenAI withdrew so quickly. What damages are there?

Sky voice is still there.

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#322

Most of the reactions here are in unison, so there's little left to contribute in agreement. I'll ask the devil's advocate / contrarian question: How big a slice of the human voice space does Scarlett lay a claim to? The evidence would be in her favor in a civil court case. OTOH, a less famous woman's claim that any given synthesized voice sounds like hers would probably fail. Contrast this with copyrighted fiction.…

(Not a lawyer) I think the issue is not just that they sound similar, but that OpenAI sought to profit from that perceived similarity. It’s pretty clear from Sam Altman’s “her” tweet that OpenAI, at least, considers it a fairly narrow slice of the human voice space.

That's true. As I suggested, this case may well be open and shut. But what if it was Google's or Meta's voice that sounded exactly like Sky, i.e. without a history of failed negotiations? The amount of "likeness" would technically be identical.

Are companies better off not even trying to negotiate to begin with?

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#323
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They clearly thought it was close enough that they asked for permission, twice. You seem to be misunderstanding the situation here. They wanted ScarJo to voice their voice assistant, and she refused twice. They also independently created a voice assistant which sounds very similar to her. That doesn't mean they thought they had to ask permission for the similar voice assistant.

So, what would they have done if she accepted? Claimed that the existing training of the Sky voice was voiced by her?

Voice cloning could be as simple as a few seconds of audio in the context window since GPT-4o is a speech to speech transformer. They wouldn't need to claim anything, just switch samples. They haven't launched the new voice mode yet, just demos.

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a different type of hacking. This was about hacking a system for one’s advantage, not the computer type of hacking.

I always interpreted the hacker in HN as a spirit, irrespective of vocation.

What is endearing and admirable as the underdog very easily becomes contemptible abuse in the biggest dog of the pack. It's not a contradiction - the hacking spirit is a trait that causes more damage the more power you have.

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#325

What if the model asks the user to input an audio sample of the person they'd like to hear, and use that? Would that be legal?

Presumably the software could have terms of use that put any onus of use on the individual, assuming their marketing didn't promote being able to do this with random celebrities' voices.

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps they cloned a character's likeness? Is there a distinction? Are they trying to make it sound like Her, or SJ? Or just trying to go for a similar style? i.e. making artistic choices in designing their product Note: I've never watched the movie.

>Is there a distinction? Yes, that would be a copyright violation on top of everything else. Great idea though! I'm going to start selling Keanu Reeves T-Shirts using this little trick. See, I'm not using Keanu's likeness if I don't label it as Keanu. I'm just going to write Neo in a Tweet, and then say I'm just cloning Neo 's likeness. Neo is not a real person, so Keanu can't sue me! Bwahahaha

If you find a guy that looks identical to him, however ...

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are we seriously saying we can't make voices that are similar to celebrities, when not using their actual voice? They clearly thought it was close enough that they asked for permission, twice. And got two no’s. Going forward with it at that point was super fucked up. It’s very bad to not ask permission when you should. It’s far worse to ask for permission and then ignore the response. Totally ethically bankrupt.

Effective altruism would posit that it is worth one voice theft to help speed the rate of life saving ai technology in the hands of everyone.

[deleted]

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#328

Well, that statement lays out a damning timeline: - OpenAI approached Scarlett last fall, and she refused. - Two days before the GPT-4o launch, they contacted her agent and asked that she reconsider. (Two days! This means they already had everything they needed to ship the product with Scarlett’s cloned voice.) - Not receiving a response, OpenAI demos the product anyway, with Sam tweeting “her” in reference to Scarle…

This statement from scarlet really changed my perspective. I use and loved the Sky voice and I did feel it sounded a little like her, but moreover it was the best of their voice offerings. I was mad when they removed it. But now I’m mad it was ever there to begin with. This timeline makes it clear that this wasn’t a coincidence and maybe not even a hiring of an impressionist (which is where things get a little more w…

> maybe not even a hiring of an impressionist

If they really hired someone who sounds just like her it's fair game IMO. Johanssen can't own the right to a similar voice just like many people can have the same name. I think if there really was another actress and she just happens to sound like her, then it's really ok. And no I'm not a fan of Altman (especially his worldcoin which I view as a privacy disaster)

I mean, imagine if I happened to have a similar voice to a famous actor, would that mean that I couldn't work as a voice actor without getting their OK just because they happen to be more famous? That would be ridiculous. Pretending to be them would be wrong, yes.

If they hired someone to change their voice to match hers, that'd be bad. Yeah. If they actually just AI-cloned her voice that's totally not OK. Also any references to the movies. Bad.

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably is illegal in CA: https://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article... "when voice is sufficient indicia of a celebrity's identity, the right of publicity protects against its imitation for commercial purposes without the celebrity's consent."

But why? Sounds like a violation to the rights of the sound actor

Because it's meant to give the _appearance_ or _perception_ that a celebrity is involved. Their actions demonstrate they were both highly interested and had the expectation that the partnership was going to work out, with the express purpose of using the celebrity's identity for their own commercial purposes.

If they had just screened a bunch of voice actors and chosen the same one no one would care (legally or otherwise).

Re: Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI "Sky" voice

#330

Well, that statement lays out a damning timeline: - OpenAI approached Scarlett last fall, and she refused. - Two days before the GPT-4o launch, they contacted her agent and asked that she reconsider. (Two days! This means they already had everything they needed to ship the product with Scarlett’s cloned voice.) - Not receiving a response, OpenAI demos the product anyway, with Sam tweeting “her” in reference to Scarle…

Smug Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Sam is a trash human
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