OpenAI is offering more information on how it creates the AI voices included with its ChatGPT generative AI chatbot. The info also comes with word that the company has suspended the use of one AI voice in particular.
That voice, which OpenAI labels as Sky, has come under scrutiny after many users say it sounds like actor Scarlett Johansson, who famously voiced an AI assistant in the film Her. In a post on its X account, OpenAI stated:
We’ve heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them.
In a separate blog post, OpenAI offered more information on how it selected the AI voices for ChatGPT, which officially added support for that feature in September 2023.
OpenAI said it had submissions from over 400 voice and screen actors in 2023 to have their voices considered for ChatGPT's voice. The company eventually cut down the submissions until five actors were chosen. OpenAI's names for AI voices from those actors are Breeze, Cove, Ember, Juniper and Sky.
The blog also goes into more detail on Sky's voice. OpenAI says:
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. To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.
The five actors who were picked for those ChatGPT AI voices recorded their scripts in June and July before their voice patterns were turned into the ones that were used for the final AI voice options. OpenAI says each of those five actors was paid "above top-of-market rates" for their work and that will keep happening for as long as the company continues to use those voices.
OpenAI's latest AI model, ChatGPT-4o, will incorporate its own voice mode for ChatGPT Plus users sometime in the coming weeks.
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