A ScarJo-Sounding AI Voice Is No Longer Her(e)

ChatGPT better keep Colin Jost’s wife’s voice out of its mouth. The OpenAI voice “Sky,” which sounded eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson’s in the movie Her, was suspended on May 20. “We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky,” OpenAI posted on Twitter. “We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.” In Her, Johansson played an AI named Samantha that Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore falls in love with. In a blog post further explaining the situation, the company said that “Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.” Given that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted solely the word “Her” on May 13, that does not seem super-feasible, but hey, whatever you say, guys.

Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) May 20, 2024

Later that same day, Johansson released a statement revealing that Altman reached out twice, asking her to voice the AI herself, but she declined. She explained in the statement, “He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and Al… Two 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.” Maybe next time, they should make Hal 9000.

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