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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

#491

Post by lupire »

bengale wrote: post #430
serial_dev wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, to me, it's just sounds like they know how to cover all their bases. To me, it sounds like they had the idea to make their AI sound like "her". For the initial version, they had a voice actor that sounds like the movie, as a proof of concept. They still liked it, so it was time to contact the real star. In the end, it's not just the voice, it would have been the brand, just imagine the buzz they would h…

A more charitable scenario might be that they hire the voice actor and it sounds a bit like her. Someone suggests why don't we just get Scarlett to do it properly, wouldn't that be cooler? They reach out and she says no. They decide to continue with the one that sounds a bit like her.

That's the same thing, in fewer words. It doesn't change that the beginning and the end are still imitating the original, and this is a billion dollar corporation, not an Elvis personator doing a little show.

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

#492

Post by s-lambert »

gwern wrote: post #470
s-lambert wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Sky voice was released with the first ChatGPT voices last year in September, so there's no contradiction there unless they asked her on the 1st of September and somehow trained another voice within the few weeks after she said no. Here's a video that someone posted in October talking to the same Sky voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SamGnUqaOfU

> and somehow trained another voice within the few weeks after she said no. Er, that is totally possible? You act like it's not a machine learning system. You train new stuff in hours or days easily, especially if you have good tooling. Imagine saying this of, say, Stable Diffusion image LoRAs: "this X artist LoRA couldn't be based on X because it was somehow trained within the few weeks after X said no!" All the tim…

They could do it but my point is that people are using the September rejection date as evidence for them copying her voice afterwards because it was 7 months before GPT-4o and they aren't aware that the voice has been in the app for 7 months already.

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

#493

Post by flutas »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #455
bluSCALE4 wrote: post #49

Anyone who thought OpenAI would just take SJ voice isn’t thinking things thoroughly but anyone that doesn’t see the request as a courtesy and the follow-up as a ‘get behind this or get nothing’ is blind. This was a strong arm move with SJ’s concept was always optional. It’d of been good press. Now that it’s the opposite, they’ll still get the voice they wanted but everyone will forget why a shitty move this within a…

> Sam Altman forced her to represent a product, forever. That’s fucked up. He never mentioned her by name, he pointed out how the AI demo OpenAI created is similar to the _character_ from Her. If you don't want to be linked to a character forever, maybe don't act? It's just such a ridiculous statement to make. Like making an argument that no one should talk about Obi Wan because Alec Guinness didn't like being recogn…

> He never mentioned her by name, he pointed out how the AI demo OpenAI created is similar to the _character_ from Her.

And yet Kaparthy (a co-founder of OpenAI) did mention her by name as "the killer app of LLMs", less than 24 hours from the announcement.

> The killer app of LLMs is Scarlett Johansson.

https://x.com/karpathy/status/1790373216537502106

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

#494

Post by abhinavk »

JCharante wrote: post #355
nicce wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not about the voice. Rather using the fame of known actress to boost the product. If your inner motive is to sound like her because she is well-known, differences in voice does not matter much.

The voice was called Sky and OpenAI wasn't using her likeness to promote the voice or product. She isn't that well known, I didn't even know she was in Her. There's 1 billion English speakers, there are going to be voice overlaps.

SCarlett AI. Sky. I know it's a reach but along with the Her tweet, you never know.

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

#496

Post by GolfPopper »

throwaway115 wrote: post #178
resolutebat wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you claiming that this was somehow engineered by Altman on purpose to draw attention, because all publicity is good publicity? Or engineered by his enemies to throw mud at Altman, because if you throw enough some of it will stick? Occam's Razor argues that Sam simply wanted ScarJo's voice, but couldn't get it, so they came up with a legally probably technical…

I would like to think that a normal person, having not been able to hire voice work from a specific well-known actor, and wanting to avoid any image of impropriety, would use a completely different voice instead. Sam isn't dumb, he knew the optics of this choice, but he chose it anyways, and here we all are, talking about OpenAI again.

"Talking about OpenAI again" yes. But also reinforcing the "too questionable for me to ever willingly use" image I have of Sam, OpenAI, and their projects.

Maybe that's just me, and it is a win for them on the whole. Hopefully not.

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

#497

Post by jojobas »

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.

You don't get the fame of being the psychopath among the Silicon Valley CEOs for nothing.

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

#499

Post by flumpcakes »

zug_zug wrote: post #481

When I first used ChatGPT's voice assistant's I was like "Wow, this one is clearly Scarlett Johansson from Her, they even copy her mannerisms." No amount of unverifiable "records" (just pieces of paper provided by somebody who has a multimillion dollar incentive to show one outcome) will change my mind. But if they can produce the actual voice artist I'd be more open-minded.

As a non-American I only hear Scarlett Johansson's voice in the examples I've heard, to me it clearly is an impersonation. Maybe state-side that specific voice sound is more common and thus less recognisable as Scarlett Johansson's.
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