New York (CNN) 鈥� Actor Scarlett Johansson said in a statement shared with CNN on Monday that she was 鈥渟hocked, angered and in disbelief鈥� that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman would use a synthetic voice released with an聽 鈥渟o eerily similar鈥� to hers.
The statement comes after OpenAI said it is hitting the pause button on the update after comparisons with a fictional voice assistant portrayed in the quasi-dystopian film 鈥淗er鈥� by Johansson.
The retreat by OpenAI follows a backlash to the artificial voice, known as Sky, which as being overly familiar with users and sounded as if it had emerged from a male developer鈥檚 fantasy. It was widely mocked for its flirtatious tone.
鈥淲e鈥檝e heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,鈥� OpenAI said in Monday. 鈥淲e are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.鈥�
Johansson said Altman offered to hire her last September to voice the ChatGPT 4.0 system.聽She said she declined the offer for 鈥減ersonal reasons.鈥�
鈥淭wo days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.鈥�
Johansson said she hired legal counsel, and said OpenAI 鈥渞eluctantly agreed鈥� to take down the 鈥淪ky鈥� voice after her counsel sent Altman two letters.
鈥淚n a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected,鈥� Johansson wrote.
The voice in question is not derived from Johansson鈥檚, the company said in , but instead 鈥渂elongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.鈥�
Altman reiterated the company鈥檚 stance that 鈥淪ky鈥� was voiced by a different actress in a statement Monday, following Johansson鈥檚 claims.
鈥淭he voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson鈥檚, and it was never intended to resemble hers,鈥� Altman said. 鈥淲e cast the voice actor behind Sky鈥檚 voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky鈥檚 voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn鈥檛 communicate better.鈥�
OpenAI said that with each of its AI voices, it tried to create 鈥渁n approachable voice that inspires trust,鈥� one that contains a 鈥渞ich tone鈥� and is 鈥渘atural and easy to listen to.鈥� The ChatGPT voice mode that used the Sky voice had not yet been widely released, but videos from the product announcement and teasers of OpenAI employees speaking with it went viral online last week.
Some who heard Sky derided it as perhaps too easy to listen to. Last week, the controversy inspired in which senior correspondent Desi Lydic described Sky as a 鈥渉orny robot baby voice.鈥�
鈥淭his is clearly programmed to feed dudes鈥� egos,鈥� Lydic said. 鈥淵ou can really tell that a man built this tech.鈥�
Even Altman appeared to acknowledge the widespread parallels users were drawing with Johansson when on the day of the product鈥檚 announcement: 鈥渉er.鈥� Johansson said Altman used this post to insinuate 鈥渢he similarity was intentional.鈥�
鈥淗er鈥� is the title of the 2013 film in which Johansson portrays an artificially intelligent voice assistant with whom the protagonist, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falls in love, only to be left heartbroken when the AI admits she is also in love with hundreds of other users and later becomes inaccessible altogether.
Questions about leadership
The criticism surrounding Sky highlights broader societal concerns about the potential biases of a technology designed by tech companies largely led or funded by White men.
The announcement came after OpenAI leaders were forced to defend their safety practices over the weekend after a departing employee into question.
Jan Leike, who formerly led a team focused on long-term AI safety but left OpenAI last week along with Co-Founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, posted a on X Friday claiming that 鈥渙ver the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products鈥� at OpenAI. He also raised concerns that the company was not devoting enough resources to preparing for a possible future 鈥渁rtificial general intelligence鈥� (AGI) that could be smarter than humans.
Altman quickly saying he appreciated Leike鈥檚 commitment to 鈥渟afety culture鈥� and added: 鈥淗e鈥檚 right we have a lot more to do; we are committed to doing it.鈥� The company also confirmed to CNN that in recent weeks it had begun to dissolve the team Leike led, and instead was integrating members of the team across its various research groups. A spokesperson for the company said that structure would help OpenAI better achieve its safety objectives.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman on Saturday, which was signed with both his name and Altman鈥檚, laying out the company鈥檚 approach to long-term AI safety.
鈥淲e have raised awareness of the risks and opportunities of AGI so that the world can better prepare for it,鈥� Brockman said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e repeatedly demonstrated the incredible possibilities from scaling up deep learning and analyzed their implications; called for international governance of AGI before such calls were popular; and helped pioneer the science of assessing AI systems for catastrophic risks.鈥�
He added that as AI becomes smarter and more integrated with humans鈥� daily lives, the company is focused on having in place 鈥渁 very tight feedback loop, rigorous testing, careful consideration at every step, world-class security, and harmony of safety and capabilities.鈥�
The-CNN-Wire
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