OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show • Hacker News Board

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

#501

Post by tombert » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:02 PM UTC

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #495

Why did OpenAI comply with Johansson’s Cease and Desist letter and take the voice down? If they legit hired a different actress their response should have been “Go ahead and sue us”.

IANAL, but I suspect it was just to show that they complied with the request, so that if the law rules against them, they can minimize the damages. The less time that voice is available, the less of a case Johansson's have to try and extract money out of them.

Also, lawsuits are expensive and go on forever. I think sometimes is cheaper and easier to just roll your eyes and take the L, even if you're in the right (at least in the short term).

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

#502

Post by abhinavk » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:02 PM UTC

Does anyone not find any proof of intent between Sam's tweet ("Her"), Karpathy's tweet ("The killer app of LLMs is Scarlett Johansson.") and the name Sky "SCarlett AI" itself?

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

#503

Post by humansareok1 » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:02 PM UTC

Imo it doesn't sound like SJ and if they can produce the actual recorded voice lines from the actress they used and whatever model they used to clone her voice it will be trivial to prove that if need be.

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

#504

Post by karaterobot » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

CodeWriter23 wrote: post #495

Why did OpenAI comply with Johansson’s Cease and Desist letter and take the voice down? If they legit hired a different actress their response should have been “Go ahead and sue us”.

They may have taken it down while they did an internal investigation to make sure. Or, regardless of their prospects of winning it, they may have not wanted to endure the cost or bad publicity a lawsuit would bring them. Neither option seems crazy to me.

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

#505

Post by dbreunig » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

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.

This shows how bad it is. If you're proactively sharing a package of docs with the Washingington Post, you're toast.

Altman's outreach, his tweet, and the thousands of tweets and comments talking about how similar Sky is to ScarJo is enough to win the case in California.

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

#506

Post by bluSCALE4 » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

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…

It’s my understanding he directly asked twice: once early on and then again right before the unveiling.

And your example is absurd. A fictional character about fantasy vs a fictional product were on the cusp of creating. I’ve never watched her so can’t comment more.

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

#507

Post by Aunche » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

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.

I don't think the mannerisms of a performance something that's copyrightable though. It sounded like they used a voice actor who was instructed to speak with a similar intonation as Her, but Scarlet Johansson's voice is more raspy, whereas Sky just sounds like a generic valley girl.

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

#508

Post by tibbon » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:04 PM UTC

Is someone's voice their IP? Is it more-valuable property because they are famous? What type of IP? Trademark? Without their name and image in combination, is a voice/likeness actually defensible?

Training a computer to have any actual-human sounding voice is likely to almost match someone's voice.

I haven't taken an IP class since 2004, but I'm not sure if there's a real case here is there?

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

#509

Post by stavros » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:05 PM UTC

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.

Funny, I'm the opposite. I saw clips from the film after the controversy (it's been ten years since I saw the film itself) and Sky sounds nothing like Johansson to me. No amount of unverifiable "records".

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

#510

Post by GaggiX » Thu, May 23, 2024, 2:06 PM UTC

flutas wrote: post #486

GaggiX wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenAi had been working with the "Sky" voice actress for months before first contacting Scarlett Johansson.

And one of the co-founders of OpenAI (Karpathy) also quite literally said "The killer app of LLMs is Scarlett Johansson." the day after the announcement. https://x.com/karpathy/status/1790373216537502106

He wouldn't be the only person to want Scarlett Johansson voice inside ChatGPT, I read several comments wanting that (I guess "Sky" voice doesn't sound so similar after all), btw Karpathy doesn't really work for OpenAI anymore.