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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

#431

Post by flavius29663 »

sebzim4500 wrote: post #292
Recursing wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Because the functionality is extremely similar to the AI depicted in Her?

the tweet doesn't say "killer app is Her", it says it's "SJo". Very big difference

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

#432

Post by gandalfgreybeer »

slibhb wrote: post #426

I never made the connection between the Sky voice and Scarlett Johansson's. I've seen many of her movies. She has an extremely distinctive voice that has a certain huskiness to it and the Sky voice totally lacks that. Some voices are sexy and both of them fall into that category -- but that's beside the point. That aside, it is genuinely pleasant to have a conversation with chatGPTo and some of that has to do with th…

I made that connection but never really thought it was the same. I just thought it was very close

> Meanwhile they aren't that good at logic This statement is contentious; depends on what level of abstraction you're looking at.

> Extremely polite and deferential This is a setting that can be turned off btw.

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

#433

Post by volleygman180 »

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…

I thought it sounded like SJ when I watched the demo live https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40345775&p=6#40346221

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

#434

Post by conductr »

loongloong wrote: post #326
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…

What sort of damages can Scarlett Johansson expect to get if OpenAI launches with the Sky voice for a short while, then pulls it quickly after the backlash (like they did)? Are punitive damages commonplace for such scenarios?

I’m sure someone can do some type of math about her general pay rate per performance minute then multiply it by the millions of hours Sky has been heard using her voice. I think that number would likely be quite high.

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

#435

Post by tiahura »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #420
baxtr wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They're likely going to write Scarlett Johansson a large check and get a new voice. What else do you think is going to happen? The entire company gets shut down?

Why would it be a particularly large check? What are her damages?

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

#436

Post by sandworm101 »

naasking wrote: post #364
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 co…

> 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 Except it doesn't sound like Johansson, I don't know why people keep saying this. At best, the voice has a couple of similar characteristics, but I didn't think for one second that it was her. Can James Earl Jones sue if someone uses a voice ac…

>> Except it doesn't sound like Johansson, I don't know why people keep saying this. At best, the voice has a couple of similar characteristics,

To add to this, the legal standard isn't whether it sounds "like" her. It has to be a replication of her voice. Millions of people may sound or look "like" another person, that doesn't mean they are a copy of that person.

The best case study in voices imho is David Attenborough. He has a distinct voice that many have sought to replicate. But you know who else had that voice? Richard Attenborough (the actor from Jurassic Park). They are brothers. Sadly, Richard recently passed. Their voices are unsurprisingly nearly interchangeable, along with a thousand other people with similar life stories. So who gets to own complete rights to the distinctive "Attenborough" voice? In any other area of intellectual property the answer is simple: nobody. It doesn't exist and/or was created by people long before any living Attenborough walked the earth.

Similarly, courts ruled that GTA did not steal from Lindsay Lohan. One cannot own the image of generic California blonde in a red bikini. So why should Johansson own sexy/breathy voice of with a nondistinctive accent?

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

#438

Post by Ukv »

skywhopper wrote: post #394
Ukv wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The actress did impersonate Her though. Did she? The article claims that: 1. Multiple people agree that the casting call mentioned nothing about SJ/her 2. The voice actress claims she was not given instructions to imitate SJ/her 3. The actress's natural voice sounds identical to the AI-generated Sky voice I don't personally think it's anywhere near "identical" to SJ's voice. It seems most likely to me that they not…

Who’s making those claims, exactly? That will tell you a lot about their likely veracity.

First two claims are "according to interviews with multiple people involved in the process", direct quotes from the casting call flier, and "documents shared by OpenAI in response to questions from The Washington Post". Given the number of (non-OpenAI) people involved, I think it would be difficult to maintain a lie on these points. Third claim is a comparison carried out by The Washington Post.

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

#440

Post by z7 »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #264
z7 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you explain the many people saying that the voices do not sound especially similar? "The pitch is kiiiiiind of close, but that's about it. Different cadence, different levels of vocal fry, slightly different accent if you pay close attention. Johansson drops Ts for Ds pretty frequently, Sky pronounces Ts pretty sharply. A linguist could probably break it down better than me and identify the different regions i…

Given the breadth and range of female voices available, this is way too close to be just a coincidence.

You first said that Sky is "clearly an impersonation" of Johansson. Now you say that it's not a coincidence they chose Sky's voice actress. These are two different claims. It may not be a coincidence in the sense that they may have chosen Sky's actress because she sounds similar to Johansson. But that alone doesn't constitute an impersonation. Impersonation means deliberately assuming the identity of another person with the intent to deceive. So you'd have to demonstrate more than a degree of similarity to make that case.
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