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

washingtonpost.com

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

#601

Post by throwawaycities »

beeboobaa3 wrote: post #536
IncreasePosts wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They voice artist put out a statement through her lawyer. She also stated her voice has never been compared to Scarlett in real life by anyone who knows her.

This is just Scarlett Johansson trying to destroy some small voice actor. I greatly dislike what OpenAI is doing, but this is just ridiculous.

Scarlett Johansson is apparently so devious she managed to get OpenAI to reach out to her to license her voice and likeness.

She even set up the CEO by having him directly negotiate with her, which I’m sure he also did with the alleged small voice actor. Then she perfected her scheme by having that same CEO publicly tweet “her” - timed with the release of the voice product - referencing JS’s movie of the same name where she voiced a computer system with a personality.

She even managed to get OpenAI to take down the voice in OpenAI’s words “out of respect” for SJ while maintaining their legal defense publicly that the voice was not based on hers.

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

#602

Post by TechRemarker »

When the original news broke, I don’t think the assumption was ever they actually used her voice as of course they would be sued instantly. But rather they wanted her especially after her Her movie, but of course to be safe first got another woman to record one that would sound very similar and then later ask Johansson to hopefully get her instead. She said no so they tried one more time before releasing and she still said so no so went with the very much like her but not her version and made reference to the Her movie to leave little doubt who you should think of when listening to that voice. So doesn’t seem like the above news changes any of that other than at least confirming they didn’t completely go off the rails and actually clone her voice from her actual content without permission which would have been insane.

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

#603

Post by bnralt »

pc86 wrote: post #553
dbreunig wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Then we can add this to the long list of insane lawsuits going the wrong way in California. They asked SJ, she said no. So they went to a voice actor and used her. Case closed, they didn't use SJ's voice without her permission. That doesn't violate any law to any reasonable person.

> They asked SJ, she said no. So they went to a voice actor and used her.

My guess is they would have went with that voice actor either way. They had four different female voices available (in addition to multiple male voices) - 2 for the api, and I believe 2 for ChatGPT (different api voices are still available, different ChatGPT ones aren’t). If Johanssen had said yes, it’s likely they would have added a fifth voice, not gotten rid of Sky.

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

#604

Post by skg_RS »

m_ke wrote: post #535
stavros wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one are we saying sounds like Johansson? I'm talking about the TTS voice in the app, is everyone else talking about the multimodal voice from the 4o demos? Also, whether they *intended* to replicate Her and whether they *did* in the end are very different.

This one: https://youtu.be/vgYi3Wr7v_g?feature=shared&t=22 compare it to: https://youtu.be/GV01B5kVsC0?feature=shared&t=125

I am of two minds here, regardless of the "closeness" there is a whole field of comedy that does impressions of others. That is what is so difficult about the AI discussion. Clearly, there are plenty of humans who can mimic other humans visually, in prose for writing, in voice and mannerisms etc.

Leaving the IP issue aside, they could clearly have hired a voice actor to closely resemble Johansson maybe without additional tweaks to the voice in post processing. If they did do that, I am not totally sure what position to take on the matter

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

#605

Post by FactolSarin »

m_ke wrote: post #535
stavros wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one are we saying sounds like Johansson? I'm talking about the TTS voice in the app, is everyone else talking about the multimodal voice from the 4o demos? Also, whether they *intended* to replicate Her and whether they *did* in the end are very different.

This one: https://youtu.be/vgYi3Wr7v_g?feature=shared&t=22 compare it to: https://youtu.be/GV01B5kVsC0?feature=shared&t=125

Those don't sound anything alike, except being two female voices. Sky is clearly a bit lower and with a lot more vocal fry.

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

#606

Post by rangerelf »

glenstein wrote: post #528
jrm4 wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question; Why in the world would one expect the more charitable scenario?

It's just a best practice that serves as a healthy counterbalance to cognitive biases, that might otherwise urge us to convict without evidence. It's not necessarily what will prove true at the end of the day but I think we owe people the presumption of innocence.

Is it necessarily a bad bias to assume OpenAI is still behaving as it's been behaving during its entire history: recklessly taking other people's IP?

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

#607

Post by Tagbert »

beeboobaa3 wrote: post #536
IncreasePosts wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They voice artist put out a statement through her lawyer. She also stated her voice has never been compared to Scarlett in real life by anyone who knows her.

This is just Scarlett Johansson trying to destroy some small voice actor. I greatly dislike what OpenAI is doing, but this is just ridiculous.

SJ doesn't know who the voice actor is. Her objection is with OpenAI's actions.

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

#608

Post by thehappypm »

johtso wrote: post #302
column wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Random TikTokers will use AI that sounds like a celebrity, and they get away with it. There are many reasons why it's not a big fuss. They're not really selling a product directly, so it could be considered a fair use, unlike ChatGPT which is a paid product (they're literally selling the voice as a feature). There is also the intent; a Morgan Freeman AI voice on a random TikTok video is obvious to a reasonable person to not actually be his real voice, so you can't really make any sort of claim that they're masquerading him as actually saying whatever the script is. It's just for fun. And finally you can't really sue thousands and thousands of TikTokers.

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

#609

Post by akaru »

bamboozled wrote: post #489

It's just annoying enough that they launched a product using a voice that sounded similar enough to generate such a controversy, why, if you had the all great "generative AI" systems at your finger tips you couldn't just generate some other completely random voice is beyond me.

Ask it for an image or for some text. Then cross-check. Many times you can see: it doesn’t make stuff up, it steals and remixes. Same thing here.

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

#610

Post by ShrimpHawk »

nilamo wrote: post #580
Uehreka wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? This kind of thing is already illegal. If I’m producing a commercial for Joe’s Hot Dogs, and I hire a voice actor who sounds like Morgan Freeman, and he never says “I’m Morgan Freeman” but he’s the main voice in the commercial and the cartoon character he’s voicing looks like Morgan Freeman… well, many consumers will be confused into thinking Morgan Freeman likes Joe’s Hot Dogs, and that’s a violation of Morgan…

Which part of that is illegal? Because I don't see anything.

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