Sam Altman denies ChatGPT cloned Scarlett Johansson’s voice after she declined his offer to join the project insisting they cast the voice before reaching out to Hollywood star

OpenAI founder Sam Altman claimed in a statement that the voice heard on the Sky app is not Scarlett Johansson and said his office had contacted her representatives, while also admitting that he “could have communicated better.”

His comments came after Johansson issued her own statement saying her lawyers have written letters to Altman and OpenAI about the voice that she says is “eerily similar” to hers.

The Oscar-nominated star has become synonymous with AI voices thanks to her role as Joaquin Phoenix’s robotic romantic partner in the 2013 film Her. Altman even tweeted the word “her” around the time Sky launched.

The voice heard on Sky is another professional actress, Altman previously said. In his latest statement, he confirmed that ChatGPT “has stopped using Sky’s voice in our products.”

“We apologize to Ms. Johansson for not communicating better,” the statement concluded.

“Sky’s voice is not Scarlett Johansson’s, and it was never intended to be like hers. We cast the voice actor behind the voice of Sky before reaching Ms. Johansson,” Altman also said.

The battle for the rights to actors’ voices and images has become a focal point in Hollywood as studios consider how to use AI to create new entertainment and as the computer-generated images and sounds become difficult to distinguish from those of people.

Johansson said in the statement that Altman approached her last September and offered to hire her as a ChatGPT voice — an offer she declined.

“Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noticed how much the latest system called ‘Sky’ looked like me,” she said.

“When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angry, and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so uncannily similar to mine that my closest friends and news media couldn’t hear the difference.”

OpenAI showed off its latest AI model last week, called GPT-4o, with audio capabilities that let users talk to the chatbot and get real-time responses, marking a significant advance in more realistic-sounding AI conversations.

In November 2023, when Altman was temporarily kicked out of his own company, a statement said his dismissal was due to his “failure to [being] consistently candid in his communications.’ Altman returned to ChatGPT as CEO days after being fired.

The voice that Johansson claims is related to hers, titled “Sky,” was one of five voices that OpenAI made available last fall, according to The Washington Post, who added that the company has suspended the use of voice from Sunday.

The company said in a blog post that it had trained voices for the audio option of its evolving AI program, and compensated voice actors with “above average rates” for their work in the program.

SchatGPT users found that some interactions with Sky were bizarre flirtations. In a video posted by OpenAI, a female ChatGPT voice compliments a company employee for “wearing an OpenAI hoodie.”

In another, the chatbot says ‘oh stop it, you’re making me blush’ after being told it’s great.

“This is clearly programmed to feed guys’ egos,” The Daily Show senior correspondent Desi Lydic said in a segment last week. “You can really tell that a man built this technology.”

OpenAI first rolled out voice capabilities for ChatGPT in September, including the five different voices, allowing users to have back-to-for conversations with the AI ​​assistant.

‘Voice Mode’ was originally only available to paying subscribers, but in November OpenAI announced that the feature would become free to all users with the mobile app.

And ChatGPT’s interactions are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Last week, OpenAI said the latest update to its generative AI model can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and even attempt to detect people’s moods.

OpenAI says the latest model, called GPT-4o, runs faster than previous versions and can reason through text, audio and video in real time.

During a demonstration during OpenAI’s May 13 announcement, the AI ​​bot chatted in real time, adding emotion — specifically “more drama” — to its voice as requested.

It also took effort to extrapolate a person’s emotional state by looking at a selfie video of their face, aided by language translations, step-by-step math problems and more.

GPT-4o, short for ‘omni’, is not yet generally available. It will gradually make its way to user selection over the coming weeks and months. The model’s text and image capabilities have already been rolled out and will even reach some of those using the free version of ChatGPT, but the new voice mode will only be available to paid subscribers of ChatGPT Plus.

While most haven’t gotten their hands on these newly announced features yet, its capabilities have sparked even more comparisons to Spike Jonze’s dystopian romance “Her.”

Johansson and her husband, Saturday Night Live personality Colin Jost, 41, are parents to son Cosmo, two. The actress is also mother to daughter Rose Dauriac, nine, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, 42.

In the recent SNL finale, Jost unknowingly made a joke about the AI ​​voice controversy. A tradition in the segment that Jost shares with Michael Che is for the pair to read jokes they’ve never seen before.

The idea, of course, is to give each other fun jokes, almost supportive jokes that would never ruin our summer or our careers,” Colin said ominously.

“ChatGPT has released a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson’s AI character in Her,” Colin began.

“Which I never looked at, because what’s the point of listening without that body?”

Then Jost bowed his head and covered his face in shame.