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OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

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Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#241

Post by popalchemist »

rowanG077 wrote: post #219
column wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's a sequel and Brad Pitt was in the first movie and you use trickery to make people think he's in the second movie, there's a case. See Crispin Glover, the dad from Back to the future, which was NOT the upside-down dad in BTTF2. They settled for 760k USD.

Openai never claimed it was Scarlett Johansson though. They didn't trick anyone.

Spielberg & co never claimed Glover was in BTTF 2. The replacement actor is credited. However they heavily implied that Glover came back, by approximating his appearance with prosthetics, preventing his face from being seen up close, and having the replacement actor mimic Glover's voice.

Glover sued and won.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#242

Post by persnickety »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #129
contrarian1234 wrote: post #120

I think it's really problematic that the government is protecting voice actor's careers. It's like if they disallowed cars on the roads to protect horse carriages. Clearly with the new technology a whole economic sector is gone and irrelevant over night. Now amateurs and small projects can afford to add good sounding voices to their creations. This is good news in the end The same goes for actors and their likenesses…

> like if they disallowed cars on the roads to protect horse carriages What? Nobody is banning OpenAI from licensing voices. The censure is on, at the very least, using an unlicensed likeness to promote their new products without compensation. (Assuming Sky truly is a clean-room product.) Likeness just became a tradeable product. That wasn't true before. The better analogy is in recognising mineral rights, including…

What makes a likeness a likeness?

A measure of similarity? Then I demand all people sounding like me to license their voice from me.

A claim that the voice originates from a certain person? Then you don't need any licensing in this case.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#243

Post by contrarian1234 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #173
contrarian1234 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't become filthy rich based of any one person's voice b/c anyone else can create a synthetic replica as well (unless they have some secret training data or something). It becomes commodity and as free as the air. Voice acting ceases to be a real career but in exchange it becomes accessible to everyone for pennies

And where does this stop? Say you wake up one day, and find out some AI copy made a digital twin/clone out of you. Your voice, your looks, your style of writing, your style of speaking. Everything that is you, they've cloned. And then they use a digital you in commercials, movies, or whatever. And, of course, you're not entitled to a single cent - because it's not you, just something that looks, sounds, and acts like…

You're being a bit melodramatic, but again the distinction is pretty clear. As long as there is a clear distinction between what is me, and made my me, and what was done by a machine/company/etc. then I don't really see the issue

If people make videos of me having sex, or fighting aliens or selling laundry detergent.. again.. why should I care?

As long as nobody is saying "Hey you're actually talking to Scarlett live right now!" it's not hurting her.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#244

Post by pietmichal »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #139
throwaway115 wrote: post #133

This whole thing is starting to feel like another Sam Altman spotlight production. There's enough evidence to show no wrongdoing, but it was handled in a way to make people think there was a scandal. Maximum spotlight for relatively low risk. I wonder if people will get tired of being jerked around like this.

I honestly don't understand how delusional you have to be to think OpenAI wanted this to happen.

I honestly don't understand how delusional you have to be to not think OpenAI wanted this to happen.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#245

Post by czl »

gnicholas wrote: post #223
scoot wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They contacted Johansson after the Sky voice was created, they didn’t create it because she declined. The voice actor isn’t a Johansson imitator, and the voice isn’t an imitation. The only similarity between the Sky voice and Johansson’s is that it’s a white American female, so by your logic a significant percentage of the US population has a case.

> The only similarity between the voice and Johansson’s is that it’s female, so by your logic half of California has a case. My understanding was that the voices sound quite similar. I haven't heard the original Sky voice so don't know. Are there any samples online?

Listen to the voices side by side:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cwy6wz/vocal_comp...

And here is voice of another actress ( Rashida Jones ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA

If you click through and listen please reply and answer these questions: which actress do you think is similar to the openAI sky voice? And what does that tell you about likely court result for Johansson? And having reached this conclusion yourself would you now think the other actress Rashida Jones is entitled to compensation based on this similarly test?

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#246

Post by jonathanstrange »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #120

I think it's really problematic that the government is protecting voice actor's careers. It's like if they disallowed cars on the roads to protect horse carriages. Clearly with the new technology a whole economic sector is gone and irrelevant over night. Now amateurs and small projects can afford to add good sounding voices to their creations. This is good news in the end The same goes for actors and their likenesses…

The vast majority of all voice actors are piss poor, not ultra wealthy celebrities. The ultra wealthy celebrities just happen to be the only ones who could legally defend themselves and can create a media fuzz.

You're basically suggesting that it's okay to copy anyone's voice and appearance without ever giving them compensation and without regard to personality rights. That's insane. Even for someone who thinks this should be allowed in principle (I certainly don't think so), there would need to be strict safeguards. Or, do you want your person and voice to appear in a commercial for ?

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#247

Post by ImHereToVote »

throwaway115 wrote: post #133

This whole thing is starting to feel like another Sam Altman spotlight production. There's enough evidence to show no wrongdoing, but it was handled in a way to make people think there was a scandal. Maximum spotlight for relatively low risk. I wonder if people will get tired of being jerked around like this.

I think people will get really sick of all the drama once the paperclips start chiming.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#248

Post by b112 »

gnicholas wrote: post #223
scoot wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They contacted Johansson after the Sky voice was created, they didn’t create it because she declined. The voice actor isn’t a Johansson imitator, and the voice isn’t an imitation. The only similarity between the Sky voice and Johansson’s is that it’s a white American female, so by your logic a significant percentage of the US population has a case.

> The only similarity between the voice and Johansson’s is that it’s female, so by your logic half of California has a case. My understanding was that the voices sound quite similar. I haven't heard the original Sky voice so don't know. Are there any samples online?

If you program a digital voice to sound like someone, there's zero difference than using an impersonator. A voice actress playing a role in a movoe (Her), is 100% that actress's voice too.

People are so weird on this. OpenAI screwed up, they know it, their actions show it, there isn't much to discuss here.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#249

Post by IanCal »

omnicognate wrote: post #171

Comments full of people reading the headline and assuming that what OpenAI did here is fine because it's a different actress, but that's not how "Right of publicity" (*) laws work. The article itself explains that there is significant legal risk here: > Mitch Glazier, the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that Johansson may have a strong case against OpenAI if she brings forth a l…

> > Several factors go against OpenAI, he said, namely Altman’s tweet and his outreach to Johansson in September and May. “It just begs the question: It’s like, if you use a different person, there was no intent for it to sound like Scarlett Johansson. Why are you reaching out to her two days before?” he said. “That would have to be explained.”

I think there's a pretty reasonable answer here in that the similarities to Her are quite obvious, and would be regardless of whose voice it was. If you wanted it to be SJ, reaching out right at the last minute seems rather odd, surely you'd reach out at the start?

There are three timelines that seem to be suggested here

* OAI want the voice to sound like SJ

* They don't ask her, they go and hire someone else specifically to sound like her

* They work on, train and release the voice

* OAI, too late to release a new voice as part of the demo, ask SJ if they can use her voice

This requires multiple people interviewed to be lying

Or

* OAI hire someone for a voice

* They train and release the voice

* People talking to a computer that reacts in this way is reminiscent of Her

* "We should get SJ as an actual voice, that would be huge" * Asks SJ

One third one, probably more middle of the road?

* OAI hire someone for a voice

* They train and release the voice

* People talking to a computer that reacts in this way is reminiscent of Her

* "Is this too similar to SJ? Should we ask them?"

* Asks SJ

> He compared Johansson’s case to one brought by the singer Bette Midler against the Ford Motor Co. in the 1980s. Ford asked Midler to use her voice in ads. After she declined, Ford hired an impersonator. A U.S. appellate court ruled in Midler’s favor, indicating her voice was protected against unauthorized use.

Sure, though worth noting that they hired a Bette Midler impersonator to sing a cover of a Better Midler song (edit - after asking and getting a "no")

To be honest, I'm not really that convinced it sounds like her

https://youtu.be/GV01B5kVsC0?t=165

https://youtu.be/D9byh4MAsUQ?t=33

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#250

Post by Sebb767 »

blitzar wrote: post #215
Pedro_Ribeiro wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if that's just the VA's natural voice? Must she stop doing VA?

No she just has to do so without promoting it as having been done by Scarlett Johansson.

Except there wasn't any promotion. The only thing close would be Sams tweet, but this was not an official statement and could easily be explained to refer to the concept of voice assistants in general. The fact that SJ was contacted twice was actually publicized by SJ and not OpenAI.
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