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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

#971

Post by beefnugs »

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…

The point is : for a little podcast to use some AI to make a couple of ephemeral jokes about real people should absolutely be allowed and might be one of the few moral use cases of AI. (see dudesy podcast humor like george carlin standup and tom brady standup)

But for a massive tech company, to fuck over an individual artist in such a blatantly disrespectful way is hugely different.

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

#972

Post by [deleted] »

l33tman wrote: post #767
gunapologist99 wrote: post #708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of the moral implications, "sounds almost exactly the same" is not copyright infringement. Perhaps it could be trademark infringement if she had trademarked her voice like Harley-Davidson attempted (and failed) to trademark the sound of their motorcycles, but "sounds alike" is a pretty hard case to prove, and it's completely blown away if they can demonstrate that another human sounds indisputably similar.…

It isn't about copyright, it's about passing-off, it's described elsewhere in detail in these threads what it means. It's about intention and what the customer believes. If customers might believe its SJ, due to samas tweets, general likeness in voice, and the context (voice assistant), the public info about them trying to get SJ to do this - that's passing-off, even if it wasn't training on her voice per se. There a…

[deleted]

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

#973

Post by gwern »

soerxpso wrote: post #707
jmull wrote: post #631

Well, here are some things that aren't really being disputed: * OpenAI wanted an AI voice that sounds like SJ * SJ declined * OpenAI got an AI voice that sounds like SJ anyway I guess they want us to believe this happened without shenanigans, but it's bit hard to. The headline of the article is a little funny, because records can't really show they weren't looking for an SJ sound-alike. They can just show that those…

It doesn't seem like you'd need "shenanigans" for this. Lots of voice actors are capable of doing voices that sound like other people, and some even have a natural voice that happens to sound very similar to a particular more noteworthy celebrity. AFAIU, the rights to your likeness only apply to your likeness, not to the likeness of someone else who happens to look or sound a lot like you. For a case that doesn't inv…

> For a case that doesn't involve AI at all, consider situations where a voice actor in a cartoon is replaced (sometimes while still alive) by someone who can perform a voice that sounds the same. Decisively not illegal.

Because there are contractual clauses. Do you think Hank Azaria owns the voice of 'Homer Simpson'? Or does Fox own that? It would be crazy to develop a show and then be held hostage to your voice actors for all future shows - what if they get hit by a car?

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

#974

Post by supermatt »

tptacek wrote: post #865
supermatt wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the voice actor was sourced before they originally contacted SJ, it was clearly the intent to sound like her. There are so many other distinctive voices they could have chosen, but instead they decided to go as close as possible to "her" as they could. Many people thought it was SJ until she stated it wasn't. I appreciate the voice actor may sound like that naturally, but its hardly coincidental that the voic…

This is not a thing. They hired a voice actor, who spoke in her normal speaking voice. That voice is not SJ's intellectual property, no matter what it sounds like. Further, I don't know how you can say any intention here is "clear", especially given the track record on this particular story, which has been abysmal even after this story was published . They could have taken auditions from 50 voice actors, come across…

> I don't know how you can say any intention here is "clear"

You are suggesting that it is coincidence that they contacted SJ to provide her voice, they hired a voice actor that sounds like her, they contacted SJ again prior to launch, and then they chose that specific voice from their library of voices and tweeted the name of the movie that SJs voice is in as a part of the promo?

I haven't suggested what they have done is illegal, given that the fictional company that created the AI "her" is unlikely to be suing them, but it is CLEARLY what their intent was.

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

#975

Post by a-loup-e »

paulddraper wrote: post #843
kopecs wrote: post #802

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's an SJ lookalike or soundalike (and you don't claim otherwise), there's no problem. This isn't true. At least with respect to "soundalike" see, e.g., Waits v. Frito-Lay 978 F.2d 1093 and Midler v. Ford Motor Co. 849 F.2d 460.

Lol what a joke. The famous person "owns" the sound of their voice, and the non-famous person does not. Get wrecked peasants.

Notice it's not "Famous person vs Non famous person". It's "Famous person vs Corporation". And in those cases it was not about the voice alone, but the use of it (which was found to be intentionally soundalike and misleading).

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

#976

Post by throwthrowuknow »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #786
jackothy wrote: post #695

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not necessarily saying that was the goal from the start. All he is admitting with that tweet is that it is indeed (he finds it to be) reminiscent of "Her".

Well, from the start, Altman wanted SJ to do the voice. Perhaps he'd never seen or heard of the movie "her", and the association is just coincidental? After "she" said no, then Altman auditions a bunch of voice talent and picks someone who sounds just like SJ. I guess that's just the kind of voice he likes. So, Altman has forgotten about SJ, has 5 voice talents in the bag, and is good to go, right? But then, 2 days(!…

The 2 days thing won’t fly. The omni model can probably produce any voice when led with a few seconds of audio. Meta developed a similar model a while back but didn’t open source it out of fear of deepfakes and there are commercial offerings like elevenlabs and open source ones like bark et al. So the last minute ask wasn’t nerves but a last ditch attempt to score a rebound for the launch.

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

#977

Post by throwthrowuknow »

jmull wrote: post #631

Well, here are some things that aren't really being disputed: * OpenAI wanted an AI voice that sounds like SJ * SJ declined * OpenAI got an AI voice that sounds like SJ anyway I guess they want us to believe this happened without shenanigans, but it's bit hard to. The headline of the article is a little funny, because records can't really show they weren't looking for an SJ sound-alike. They can just show that those…

> In a statement from the Sky actress provided by her agent, she wrote that at times the backlash “feels personal being that it’s just my natural voice and I’ve never been compared to her by the people who do know me closely.”

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

#978

Post by seec »

The whole outrage is so stupid. It is a very stupid fact of our modern capitalist system that some people can get a ton of money just for who they are, after becoming famous for various reasons (a lot of luck for many). It is just not fair that some people can get so much money without doing any real work while most of the regular people have to work their ass off just to survive. It is worse than unfair; it is terribly inefficient.

In this case they even tried to do the right thing and offered her compensation. She declined, probably because she thought it wasn't enough money (never underestimate the vanity/cupidity of women).

In the end they showed that they were just being "nice": they don't even need her work output of voice acting, they can just create a similar enough version just fine.

And the fact is that it isn't her voice. She didn't do the work, she refused. It also should be clear that there is bound to be another woman in the world with similar physical characteristics that has a voice close enough to her. She just cannot own a particular voice characteristic, she could have owned the work associated with her voice acting, but she refused.

The whole outrage is just dumb, I really hope she loses in court because otherwise it is going to set a very problematic precedent.

They are enough people in the world profiteering from various position without actually doing the equivalent work value that we don't need to get them even more money.

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

#979

Post by piloto_ciego »

jmull wrote: post #631

Well, here are some things that aren't really being disputed: * OpenAI wanted an AI voice that sounds like SJ * SJ declined * OpenAI got an AI voice that sounds like SJ anyway I guess they want us to believe this happened without shenanigans, but it's bit hard to. The headline of the article is a little funny, because records can't really show they weren't looking for an SJ sound-alike. They can just show that those…

This isn’t the timeline though? The actor for Sky was hired and cast before they even reached out to SkarJo. The idea that they wanted to literally reproduce “Her” feels like motivated reasoning to me.

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

#980

Post by paulddraper »

a-loup-e wrote: post #975
paulddraper wrote: post #843

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol what a joke. The famous person "owns" the sound of their voice, and the non-famous person does not. Get wrecked peasants.

Notice it's not "Famous person vs Non famous person". It's "Famous person vs Corporation". And in those cases it was not about the voice alone, but the use of it (which was found to be intentionally soundalike and misleading).

Non-famous person wasn't sued, but they are unemployable.

"Can Corporation hire Famous person, or Non-Famous person?"

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