Actress Scarlett Johansson and her refusal to be the voice of ChatGPT
Actress Scarlett Johansson has expressed her discontent with the company OpenAI after they presented the new generation of ChatGPT, which includes a virtual assistant with a voice very similar to hers. According to Johansson, the company contacted her months ago to offer to be the voice of ChatGPT, but she declined the offer for personal reasons. Now, the actress has been surprised and angry upon hearing the voice of the new ChatGPT, since she considers that it sounds strangely similar to hers, so much so that her close friends and the media cannot tell the difference.
OpenAI’s response and controversy
OpenAI has denied that the voice of its virtual assistant is an imitation of Scarlett Johansson, claiming that it belongs to a different professional actress who uses her own natural voice. The company claims that AI voices do not have to deliberately imitate the distinctive voice of a famous person. However, before the launch of the new product, Salt Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, had expressed his amazement at the quality of the voice, comparing it to artificial intelligence in movies. This statement has generated controversy, since Altman has also stated that she is a fan of the film ‘Her’ (2013), in which Johansson voiced her virtual assistant.
OpenAI’s focus on voice personality
According to OpenAI, the choice of virtual assistant voice is the result of a partnership with independent casting directors and producers, with the goal of finding each voice’s unique personality and appeal to global audiences. The company was looking for a timeless, approachable, warm and attractive voice, among other qualities.
The features of the new ChatGPT
The new generation of ChatGPT, called GPT-4o, was presented last week. This free version of the chatbot is faster and has improved capabilities. For example, you can perform simultaneous translations in 50 languages during a conversation, participate in video conferences, and describe what you see through a phone camera. In addition, it is capable of recognizing emotions and imitating people’s cadences when speaking, to achieve greater realism.
Competition with Google and its virtual assistants
The announcement of the new generation of ChatGPT coincided with Google’s annual developer conference, where the company presented a similar product. Both OpenAI and Google assistants have human characteristics that allow them to see, hear, reason and help the user.