ChatGPT's creator OpenAI has halted the use of one of its AI-generated voices, after some users said it had a flirtatious tone that sounded too much like Hollywood A-Lister Scarlett Johansson.
In a post to X, OpenAI said it was 'working to pause' Sky – the name of one of five voices that ChatGPT users can chose to speak with.
The company said it had 'heard questions' about how it selects the lifelike audio options available for its flagship artificial intelligence chatbot, particularly Sky, and wanted to address them.
OpenAI was also quick to debunk the internet's theories about Johansson in an accompanying blog post detailing how ChatGPT's voices were chosen.
'We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice – Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,' the company wrote.
Some users said the had a flirtatious tone that sounded too much like Hollywood A-Lister Scarlett Johansson (pictured)
OpenAI said it was 'working to pause' Sky – the name of one of five voices that ChatGPT users can chose to speak with (File image)
Johansson starred in the 2014 Spike Jonze film 'Her', in which she voiced an AI that Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with.
ChatGPT users found that some interactions with Sky were bizarrely flirtations. In one video posted by OpenAI, a female-voiced ChatGPT compliments a company employee on 'rocking an OpenAI hoodie.'
In another the chatbot says 'oh stop it, you're making me blush' after being told that it's amazing.
'This is clearly programmed to feed dudes' egos,' The Daily Show senior correspondent Desi Lydic said in a segment last week. 'You can really tell that a man built this tech.'
OpenAI first rolled out voice capabilities for ChatGPT, which included the five different voices, in September, allowing users to engage in back-to-forth conversation with the AI assistant.
'Voice Mode' was originally just available to paid subscribers, but in November, OpenAI announced that the feature would become free for all users with the mobile app.
Johansson starred in the 2014 Spike Jonze film 'Her', in which she voiced an AI that Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with (Pictured)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared to tap into the comparison to Her – simply posting the word 'her' on the social media platform X the day of GPT-4o's unveiling (File image)
And ChatGPT's interactions are becoming more and more sophisticated. Last week, OpenAI said the latest update to its generative AI model can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people's moods.
OpenAI says the newest model, dubbed GPT-4o, works faster than previous versions and can reason across text, audio and video in real time.
In a demonstration during OpenAI's May 13 announcement, the AI bot chatted in real time, adding emotion – specifically 'more drama' – to its voice as requested.
It also took a stab at extrapolating a person's emotional state by looking at a selfie video of their face, aided in language translations, step-by-step math problems and more.
GPT-4o, short for 'omni,' isn't widely available yet. It will progressively make its way to select users in the coming weeks and months. The model's text and image capabilities have already begun rolling out, and is set to reach even some of those that use ChatGPT's free tier – but the new voice mode will just be available for paid subscribers of ChatGPT Plus.
While most have yet to get their hands on these newly announced features, the capabilities have conjured up even more comparisons to the Spike Jonze's dystopian romance 'Her.'
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared to tap into this, too – simply posting the word 'her' on the social media platform X the day of GPT-4o's unveiling.
