Array
For this story to make sense you have to know about a movie that came out in 2013 called Her. The movie was essentially a science fiction romance about a guy played by Joaquin Phoenix who falls in love with an operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Johansson never appears in the movie but her voice is a constant presence. She is the character referred to by the title of the film. Here’s the trailer for those who haven’t seen it.
That was a decade ago when talk about AI was mostly science fiction. But jump forward to last week and Open AI was rolling out a new version of its Chap GPT software. Sam Altman made a big deal about its ability to have natural conversation with several different voices including one called “Sky.”
Immediately, people noticed that Sky sounded an awful lot like Scarlett Johansson. In fact, people have been saying that since Sky was first revealed sometime last year. But the comparisons made news over the past week and last night OpenAI posted a statement on X saying that it was pausing the availability of Sky while the company answered questions about it.
We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.
how we chose these voices: https://t.co/R8wwZjU36L— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 20, 2024
That link goes to an explainer in which the company claimed that all of its voices were the result of work with specific voice actors.
Voice Mode is one of the most beloved features in ChatGPT. Each of the five distinct voices you hear has been carefully selected through an extensive process spanning five months involving professional voice actors, talent agencies, casting directors, and industry advisors.
