OpenAI Confirms that Sky’s Voice Actress was Cast Months before Altman Contacted Johansson

As per a recent report, OpenAI chose the voice actor for Sky months before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman contacted Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson, and it had no intention of finding someone who sounded like her. Moreover, the name Sky was selected to convey a calm, breezy, and pleasing tone and had no relation to the Hollywood actor.

Giving an explanation of the voice selection process, OpenAI published a casting call for a top-secret initiative to provide ChatGPT with a human voice last year. The flier included other requests, including that the actors sound between 25 and 45 years old and be nonunion. The report said nowhere had OpenAI said it was searching for a voice akin to Scarlett Johansson.

Subsequently, Sky's voice was created by hiring an actress. Based on her initial voice test clips, OpenAI determined that the actress's natural voice sounded like Sky's, so they didn't alter her recordings to sound like Johansson.

Controversy arose on Monday after the actress, who had initially declined Sam Altman's offer to voice the ChatGPT, expressed her shock and disbelief. She was taken aback when OpenAI launched a chatbot with a voice that she found eerily similar to hers.

"He told me that by voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He felt my voice would comfort people," the Jojo Rabbit star stated.

After nine months, she said, everyone, including friends, family and the general public, noticed how much the newest system. Sky sounded like her.

Following the uproar, OpenAI declared that it would stop using the voice, emphasizing that the voice match was purely coincidental. In a blog post, the company clarified that the intention was never to mimic Scarlett Johansson's voice, but rather to create a calm and pleasing tone for the AI.

Sam Altman, in a statement, reiterated that the voice of Sky was never intended to resemble Scarlett Johansson's. He emphasized OpenAI's respect for Ms. Johansson and their decision to pause using Sky’s voice in their products. He also expressed regret for any miscommunication that may have occurred.

OpenAI Problems Continue

While OpenAI is still battling out this voice impersonation case, the company is tangled with a number of issues including the exits of two high-profile executives, Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, who played an important role in leading the company’s now-dissolved safety research team, Superalignment. The departures have revived the questions about the company’s approach to balancing speed versus safety in developing its AI products.