OpenAI removes Scarlett Johansson-like voice for ChatGPT

OpenAI pulls ChatGPT’s voice which sounds remarkably like Scarlett Johansson’s after many headlines (and even Saturday Night Live) noted the similarity. The voice, known as Sky, is now “paused,” the company says.

“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately imitate the distinctive voice of a celebrity. Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to another professional actress using her own natural voice,” wrote OpenAI this morning.

Mira Murati, CTO of OpenAI, denied that Johansson’s imitation was intentional in an interview with The edge last week. Although Johansson’s voice wasn’t directly referenced, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was apparently already aware of the similarities, posting the one-word message “she” on X after the event. Altman has previously stated that Spike Jonze Herin which Scarlett Johansson voices a sultry virtual assistant, is her favorite film.

OpenAI has not mentioned whether it has received any contact regarding possible legal issues or challenges regarding its assistant’s similarities to Johansson or the role she plays in Her. The edge contacted a Johansson representative for comment.

ChatGPT voice mode and Sky voice model have been around since last year. But the feature became much more important last week, when OpenAI showed off advances under its new GPT-4o model. The new model makes the voice assistant more expressive and allows it to read facial expressions through a phone’s camera and translate spoken language in real time.

The five ChatGPT voice profiles currently available were selected from more than 400 casting applications from voice and on-screen actors, according to OpenAI. The company declined to share the actors’ names, citing the need to “protect their privacy.”

The new ChatGPT voice assistant features will launch “in the coming weeks” as a limited “alpha” version for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. OpenAI plans to eventually introduce additional voices to “better match diverse user interests and preferences.”