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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

#301

Post by varispeed »

baxtr wrote: post #296
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…

The sad thing is: most probably absolutely nothing will happen. These startups break laws, pay the fines and end up just fine. Remember that it was Sam Altman who proposed to change the YC questionnaire to screen applicants by incidents where they have successfully broken rules. YC even boasts about that.

Or to rephrase it, the laws don't apply to the rich. They just have to pay a little bit more "tax" (which probably still works out to be less than typical small business has to pay % wise anyway) to be allowed to break them.

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

#302

Post by johtso »

column wrote: post #185
justeoghan wrote: post #163

I never comment on HN I’ve just always been a long time lurker but I feel like I’m going crazy here reading comments. SJ is not the “AI” portrayed in the movie her. And AFAIK she does not in fact have all the same idiosyncrasies and tones in real life as the voice does in the movie because she was in fact directed to act like that. Not only that but the voices are not the same because there was another actress for sk…

It's not a question of owning all voices that sound like her, it's a question of "are customers deceived into thinking it is her" and "does it affect SJ negatively to be associated with this sound alike" when her income comes partly from her distinctive voice (much like Morgan Freeman). Sam Altman tweeting "Her" right before the announcements is what builds the case for SJ. Imagine we hired a Leo Messi look alike and…

I think Morgan Freeman is a useful comparison to make. Imitations of his voice have been used in a lot of political campaign videos (not sure how many of them got permission). An imitation of his voice was also used in a UK "morethan" advert where they did seek permission and pay him. Another highly popular AI voice would be David Attenborough, used in any number of videos.

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

#303

Post by helsinkiandrew »

scoot wrote: post #205
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…

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.

> They contacted Johansson after the Sky voice was created, they didn’t create it because she declined.

Her statement says otherwise:

"Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. 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. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.

https://twitter.com/BobbyAllyn/status/1792679435701014908

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

#304

Post by magic123_ »

z7 wrote: post #239
blitzar wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You then tweet out, "look its Brad Pitt in my movie".

They never claimed it was Scarlett Johansson's voice though.

If the objective is to absolutely always avoid reading between the lines, then yes you're correct.

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

#305

Post by ac50hz »

Of course, it’s possible that the intent or otherwise wasn’t the objective. They’ve succeeded in bringing together several associations which allude to a sophisticated and peaceful future for all of us, in spite of the possibility of any minor legal hiccups. Whether the man with something of the dark about him was responsible, involved or unaware, the company continues to lay out its strategy, concerns and targets in plain sight. I’ll try to remain outside of this chaotic arena.

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

#306

Post by ratg13 »

Recursing wrote: post #266
chipweinberger wrote: post #121

People see what they want to see. If it wasn't for us being biased by the surrounding circumstances I don't think people would have confused their voices. Their voices are not that similar. I probably personally know people with a voice as similar to SJ as Sky's. You probably do too. The voice actress says the same: "I’ve never been compared to her by the people who do know me closely." But then suddenly a story emer…

Everyone mentions the "her" tweet, but I'm surprised to see nobody mention this tweet from ex-OpenAI employee Karpathy: https://x.com/karpathy/status/1790373216537502106 If it sounds nothing like her, and there was no intent to make it sound like her, why would he tweet "The killer app of LLMs is Scarlett Johansson"? Many people made the comparison right after it was released https://x.com/search?q=scarjo%20until%3A2…

the tweet, plus all of the last minute trying to get scarlett to sign off on it signals an intent to try and make it sound like "her"

why be an apologist?

OpenAI was given an opportunity by Scarlett to prove that they did not intend to make it sound like her, and instead of responding their choice was to take down the voice. (yet another signal)

I think you'd have to be willfully ignorant to believe there wasn't some intent here.

Whether or not it's legal to copy someone's likeness in this fashion is another story.

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

#307

Post by helsinkiandrew »

gnicholas wrote: post #216
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…

The Midler case is readily distinguishable. From Wikipedia: > Ford Motor created an ad campaign for the Mercury Sable that specifically was meant to inspire nostalgic sentiments through the use of famous songs from the 1970s sung by their original artists. When the original artists refused to accept, impersonators were used to sing the original songs for the commercials. Midler was asked to sing a famous song of hers…

> later go to a famous actress known for one time playing a chatbot in a movie, and are declined, you are in a much better position

But they asked her first!:

"Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. 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. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people....

https://twitter.com/BobbyAllyn/status/1792679435701014908

So its: ask Johansson, get declined, ask casting directors for the type of voice actors they are interested in, listened to 400 voices, choose one that sounds like the actor, ask Johansson again, get declined again, publish with a reference to Johansson film, claim the voice has nothing todo with Johansson.

[EDIT] Actually it looks like they selected the Sky actor before they asked Johansson and claim that she would have been the 6th voice, its still hard to believe they didn't intend it to sound like the voice in her though:

https://openai.com/index/how-the-voices-for-chatgpt-were-cho...

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

#308

Post by grugagag »

ilaksh wrote: post #187

It's always the least significant thing that everyone cares the most about. Because people are stupid. This one case is a pretty grey area. But what is not is the voice cloning tools like Eleven Labs which can and do clone voices very well. Forget about stealing one person's voice. Or a lot of people's voices. This technology will soon be able to replace everyone's skillset. Give it 2-5 years. This type of reaction i…

> This type of reaction is how we know that humans will not maintain control of the planet for much longer.

But who will? There will always be some people who own the technology, they will hold control over people with the help of technology but not the technology itself which has no intent whatsoever. But I agree that people will be rendered powerless or even redundant which calls their existence into question.

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

#309

Post by ig1 »

gnicholas wrote: post #216
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…

The Midler case is readily distinguishable. From Wikipedia: > Ford Motor created an ad campaign for the Mercury Sable that specifically was meant to inspire nostalgic sentiments through the use of famous songs from the 1970s sung by their original artists. When the original artists refused to accept, impersonators were used to sing the original songs for the commercials. Midler was asked to sing a famous song of hers…

The tweet + approach is probably sufficient to bring a lawsuit and get into discovery and then it'll come down to if there's a smoking gun documents (e.g. internal emails comparing the voice to Her, etc.)

It's likely that someone internally must have noticed the similarity so there's like some kind of comms around it so it very much will depend on what was written in those conversations.

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

#310

Post by [deleted] »

moralestapia wrote: post #240
gnicholas wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Midler case is readily distinguishable. From Wikipedia: > Ford Motor created an ad campaign for the Mercury Sable that specifically was meant to inspire nostalgic sentiments through the use of famous songs from the 1970s sung by their original artists. When the original artists refused to accept, impersonators were used to sing the original songs for the commercials. Midler was asked to sing a famous song of hers…

>The tweet is still a thorn in OA's side, of course, but that's not likely to be determinative IMO (IAAL). It amounts to nothing as it was a single word and they could spin that any way they want, it's even a generic word, lol. The "worst" interpretation on that tweet could be "we were inspired by said movie to create a relatable product" which is not an unlawful thing to do.

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