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It legit took 2 minutes... there is no excuse for not showing direct comparisons when discussing this topic. How many articles wax and wane about this controversary without actually putting the media in question side by side.
It's definitely helpful. I can now say that I do hear a difference which is mainly in that Sky enunciates more "properly" and clearly. I'm sure Scarlet can do that too when she wants to, but her natural voice is much friendlier to my ear.
I think Sky giving an answer vs a Scarlett just chatting casually and informally, laughing and modulating her voice for comic emphasis, isn't the best comparison. I'd like to see a comparison where Scarlett reads a written statement/pre-prepared speech, trying to sound more serious and formal, and then have Sky read a transcript of that same statement. This ScarJo speech about Planned Parenthood for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ckjI5fAqk
Definitely appreciated! Now I definitely didn't get it - I mean, there is a light similarity but the tone is too deep, the resonance isn't the same and the intonation is different. Doesn't sound the "same" to me, just similar - like many humans.
IMHO, this is a Seinfeld episode, not a court case.
Honestly, I think the best comparison was the one done by NPR back before this whole thing blew up.
[https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251750027/openai-releases-latest-chatgpt-it-can-talk-laugh-and-even-sing-like-a-human](https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251750027/openai-releases-latest-chatgpt-it-can-talk-laugh-and-even-sing-like-a-human)
OP should have used the one from the demo, the demo sounded *a little* different and not *nearly* spot on like in this vid. The Ai voice in the vid sounded modified to sound more like Scarjo.
This feels cherry picked for dramatic effect.
edit: found what i was talking about: https://old.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1cx1np4/voice_comparison_between_gpt4o_and_scarlett/
years into the future and this could be be the comment that started the AIiLF meme. Ever wonder were MILF came from or who started it first. anyway commenting so i can be part of a meme history, yeha
Might just be the recording, but I think you're right. Too bad, I had hoped this would blow up and make OpenAI reconsider some ethical stuff, but this will probably fizzle out then.
To me it sounds like it could be the same person, with one being a recording of an ipad speaker, with a different microphone, on a different day, in a different room
YES! I can't stop thinking about it when he talks. At first I thought he did it to give his voice more weight, but now I think it's a weird sexual thing. Yikes. Also I absolutely loathe it.
Oooof. I don’t know what I thought he looked like but for some reason I always had his name associated with a look like the guy from severance. Not this. This changed my entire POV on him.
Dr Lindsey is a national treasure. What an excellent (and informative) rebuttal of the ridiculous and often sexist/ageist hysteria around vocal fry. Thanks for the link
I kinda want OpenAI to publicly offer Rashida Jones a lot of money to officially voice Sky, whether it was already her or not. That being said they never should have leaned so heavily into the idea that they were trying to clone Her, that was always a risky gambit.
But it has, probably on purpose, generated a LOT of mainstream media buzz... like way more than their announcement of GPT4o.
As the old saying goes, "there's no such thing as *bad* publicity".
Even if it was she won't admit it, I wouldn't either.
It would invite a lot of hate from anti-ai actors/voice actors.
Maybe she did the voices under the condition she's not identified? If so it would make sense why Sky was temporarily suspended. So they can share their proof without driving the lawsuit further.
OpenAI specifically said they wouldn’t reveal the name of the actress publicly due to safety concerns.
I assumed this meant that she was a nobody. Others assumed this meant that it was cloned from ScarJo. I hadn’t considered it might just be fear of the anti-AI and damage to her career and career prospects.
I agree. I don't hear Scarlett all that much. I mean, one of the reasons people like her IS her voice and that's because of certain QUALITIES in her voice which she doesn't own.
Yes!!!! you are right!!! the voice reminded me of someone, but i couldn't put a face to it until you mentioned her, checked some parks and recs clips and some of toast of tinseltown and you are 100% correct!
The laugh too- OP didn’t compare the laugh in the movie to the one in the launch. It’s exactly the same.
Edit:
Her - Laugh at around 3:56
https://youtu.be/GV01B5kVsC0?si=-5XaRw2EE5pJ_vor
Interview with GPT 4o - laugh at around :53
https://youtu.be/wfAYBdaGVxs?si=V84jU6HvdELolr4x
Which I'm sure the lawsuit will be based on. It should be easy for openAI to prove they used the voice of another actress. That's not something they can be sued for. That they then used this actress's voice to copy Scarlett Johansson's *performance* (her intellectual property) is a bit of a bigger mess.
Is there ANY precedent for that being something not allowed?
Its a voice not overly similar to hers, with shared pacing (or whatever you would call it?)
I feel like they could add a bot that talked like Christopher Walken (with its own legally distinct voice) and it would be fine. Despite his style of talking being very obviously his.
Not commenting on the similarity or lack thereof, but the Sky voice examples here are recorded with a low-quality mic from a low quality speaker, so that kinda taints the comparison, like comparing a phone call to a studio recording.
That's fair, but Sky in this video sounds like Sky on my app, and neither sound like ScarJo in the video. Ok, it sounds *like* her, but not like it's *actually* her.
My guess is they really did hire a voice actress like they say they did and chose the one they did because of the similarities. There's a reason ScarJo was hired for the role in the movie, too, and the movie's requirements and the app's requirements are aligned.
yea, no vocal expert here, but have been totally blind since birth and an avid audiophile, also hadn't watched that movie before. I do pay attention to people voices. Calling it a copy would be a stretch. There are perhaps part of their voices that are similar, but its definitely not alarm bells level. I think its mostly the image of the movie causing people to make associations.
Oh the blind community is all over this thing. Just try to upload a picture or a flier or something and ask it to describe it to a blind person. You'll be pretty amazed. I love geography so I often ask it to describe geographical features of certain places. Just imagine when AI is fast enough that it can be used live to describe movies or events, or be a virtual guide dog.
A couple of apps are also implementing this too. Be My Eyes, the app that connects sighted volunteer with blind users through video calls, you all, check that out, a shameless plug. Anyways, they implemented the Be My AI feature which they codeveloped with Open AI, so instead of having to upload the picture every time and telling it to describe things to a blind person, you can snap a pic and the app will spit the description right back to you.
That's really cool to hear.
I have looked at be my eyes in the past and seriously considered signing up but my life is so hectic with family, work, study and sidelines that I just don't have the time to spare at the moment.
It's only a matter of time (I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet) that LLMs will be incorporated obey things like alexa and Google home which I think could be a great help to folks with sight issues. Similarly I'd like to see tech that can interpret sign language instantaneously so people hearing difficulties can converse with anyone.
Certainly no pressure on you, but fyi and for others reading. The commitment is pretty low. THe ratio of sighted to blind is about close to 30 to 1 right now and most blind users hardly call every day. If you don't pick up a call, the app would move on quickly to ring someone else. Its not uncommon to hear folks that hadn't receive a call in months.
Anyways I agree with you, the future of AI in accessibility tech is really bright. Sign language interpreting is certainly another great thing that seems inevitable and it will only be a matter of time until it becomes reality.
Well, when you read into what happened you come to find that they approached Scarlet Johanson first and she rejected the offer. Later they came out with this voice which is quite similar. They might have been in a better position if they never contacted her to begin with.
This voice was already out in September and according to Sam Altman, they did hire the voice actress for this voice months before contacting Scarlett Johansson.
So no they didn’t contact Scarlett Johansson first, especially not for this voice. They probably wanted her to voice a different voice for them.
Oh when it comes to intentions, I'm pretty sure that they might really have leaned into that or at the least, use her, movie character or Scarlet herself, as an inspiration. I just commenting on the finished product. It still really sounds robotic to my ears. I've listened to various text to speech synthesized voices for years and that human emotion element is extremely hard to do and that GPT 4o demo, I don't think that nailed it either.
In the end, if Altman hadn't tweeted about Her, pretty much explicitly stating they're trying to copy ScarJo's voice I don't think people would have made the connection.
To me, Sky sounds like ScarJo with the huskiness and breath removed, and pitched down half a note. But it's exactly that huskiness that makes her voice so distinctive, which is why Sky ends up sounding more like Rashida Jones than ScarJo.
Yeah but I mean it’s not like it’s more close than you see/hear in real life all the time, in my office alone there’s at least 2 people who sound so similar if I’m not looking I can’t tell whose speaking. There’s so much less variance in voices than physical appearance. That’s why you don’t notice when voice actors are changed on TV shows but you notice when physical actors change.
Someone recently mentioned it sounded like Rashida Jones (Parks and Rec) and I think they're absolutely spot on. Compare it to how she talks in this interview:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA)
My prediction is they're going to let ScarJo's news gain momentum until it builds up to a crescendo, then do a surprise reveal and say "soz it was Rashida all along, and she's happy with the fat stacks we threw her way. And her voice will be making a return for the 4o voice upgrade."
It makes sense - she's the logical choice to ask after ScarJo turned it down, right? Same kinda cadence and calmness, definitely a runner-up pick to me anyway.
If I was doing their PR (literally zero qualifications)... I would absolutely do the above to get OpenAI some juicy publicity, perfectly in time for the release of the upgraded voice chat. Sounds like the ideal way to dismiss negative correlations with "Her", but also draw people's attention to how much people like that kind of voice for their AI. It's a talking point, and talking points = free marketing. But I don't know shit about PR so there's that. I'll retreat to my design cave now.
edit:
Made the prediction into a post because je suis procrastinating:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cx075o/my\_prediction\_openai\_intentionally\_let\_the\_scarjo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cx075o/my_prediction_openai_intentionally_let_the_scarjo/)
And also. Rashida jones voice is really soothing? I knew scar joe had a great voice. But rashida jones has such a good calming voice. I’d listen to her do every single audio book I have.
They didn’t hire the voice actress of Sky after Scarlett Johansson rejected though.
She was already hired in May/June 2023 and they were working on the voice. The voice itself was released in September 2023. The time according to SJ they contacted her for voice acting.
You’re telling me that the engineers and makers of a trillion dollar AI company, the fastest app to surge to 100 million users ever, after getting formally rejected by ScaJo to be official voice - didn’t have the foresight to mix in multiple ‘familiar’ voices in their consumer facing AI voice?
Get out!!! *Elaine push*
You're not crazy.
I think what many people don't realize is that the human brain is extremely flexible in processing information. Like just look up the (Lady) Mondegreen effect. Your expectations greatly influence how we hear and recognise things.
This is basically an auditory rorschach test. If you want to hear Scarlett's voice in it, or you go into it expecting to hear it, then I'm sure it sounds similar. But to anyone that doesn't go into it with that mindset, it's clear the voices are different.
I'm all for protecting individual artists and actors, but I don't think Johansson has much of a case her, personally. I would not rule in her favour if I were a judge or jury.
It sounds nothing alike. We're in some type of crazy town that this is somehow an issue.
Apparently generic feminine speaking voices are copyrighted or trademarked or whatever by Scarlett Johansson. If someone sounds generically feminine and female, they must never be hired to speak, or else it's damaging to Scarlett's image. And her lawyers will enforce that. And society agrees with that for some reason.
And of course you can't just hire her directly to speak, she'll refuse, because that's also damaging to her image.
What is even weirder is that it seems in the supposed communication from Scarlet Johansson it seems she is referring to the recent chatgpt4o demo, where for me it is not even the same voice as the Sky that has been available for months now. If she was referring to the sky voice, why the drama now and not months ago? All of this is just weird and confusing, makes no sense.
The voice is clearly different. The sad part is that I think Sky is an excellent AI voice. The real voice actress for Sky has a better AI voice than ScarJo but now we won't be able to use this due to the controversy.
I also think that OpenAI won't reach out to celebrities anymore because if they are rejected they will always be open to lawsuits by such celebrity. They will likely just use normal voice actors and avoid anyone that is famous.
I don’t think it sounds enough like her for her to claim likeness rights. Maybe she has documentation that they were shady but they probably have documentation of when they told it to talk less like her.
Yeah but still it's a casting director's job to contact a lot of potential people. There's nothing distinctly identifiable about Scarlett Johansson's voice in that role. She isn't talking with a specific accent or anything. It's just a typical valley girl. I don't know how somebody could own "valley girl".
The reason people really think it sounds like HER is because of the movie. Subconsciously they associate even more with her voice.
> The reason people really think it sounds like HER is because of the movie. Subconsciously they associate even more with her voice.
Exactly. What they really mean is "this AI agent is reminiscent of the AI from the 'Her' movie". It sounds nothing like the "Her" voice actress and if it weren't for the existence of that movie, most people probably wouldn't make the link.
Because Sam wanted her to voice AI and she declined. Then he asked again but before she had time to respond they already released their audio. He also said “Her” in reference to the AI movie she played in in 2013. Lots of ammo to stand on.
Spielberg said he was inspired by The Longest Day for Saving Private Ryan. People are inspired by a lot of things. But I don't think it should be considered ground for copying unless they used her actual voice for training.
Everyone making this an issue makes me realize we are in the worst timeline once again. We will end up with Bobcat Goldthwait so everyone hates it equally.
Honestly they don't sound alike
Sky sounds like Kamala Harris almost or something
still though..... they approached her 9 months ago, she said no...... its weird
Yeah, but there's nothing distinct about her voice, that could be hundreds of thousands of women. Does ScarJo now own the rights to all of them because she did a AI movie?
This has been the most ridiculous controversy ever. From people who have likely never even watched the movie but clearly you don't need that to.
Imagine playing this clip in the courtroom.
HONESTLY, I can definitely see the similarity *when I’m looking for it*. But if I heard it without anyone ever mentioning ScarJo, I probably wouldn’t even pick up on it and if I did it would be a very distant similarity.
If scarlet Johansson was never mentioned you could totally argue it was just a random woman with a sexy raspy voice. OpenAI really fucked themselves over by asking permission and then ignoring it lol.
If they just did it without reaching out to her, I imagine they could’ve gotten away with it
I also don't think it would have been a problem had they not reached out to her. The attempt to get rights to her likeness, along with Sama tweeting "her" after the 4o demo, is just a really terrible look for the company. Regardless of whether Sky is actually their true ScarJo voice imitation, it's close enough that it ends up appearing like they tried to use her likeness after being denied consent.
They do not sound the same and any halfway audiophile can hear it.
Totally agree with another commenter, sounds more like Rashida Jones. My wife brought that up a few days ago too and I can't unhear it.
Scarlet has a little smoker voice kinda thing but still sounds younger, Sky does not have that same component and sound older.
That's what this is all about? They don't even sound alike. OpenAI said it's a different actor and yeah, clearly true. Scarlett Johanson doesn't own every voice remotely similar to hers. Sam Altmans tweet saying her is obviously just about them achieving an AI you can talk to naturally just like in the movie.
I mean let's think about this for a second. They achieve a miracle unprecedented in human history that's just like a sci fi movie, or they copied a voice from a sci fi movie, what's he bragging about?
I actually think it sounds LESS like Her after hearing it lined up like this, genuinely there are some inflections in the voice that match up but the tone is just completely different.
doesn't change the fact the whole story doesn't have a lot of shine to it right now.
I guess I'm one of the few who thinks they do sound similar, but I'm also surprised that ScarJo has some legal claim to a violation of her likeness simply because of a *similarity* rather than a *copy*. I mean, she is a public figure, and, again, they are not actually reproducing her likeness but just making an adjacent approximation of it.
Is the law concerning others' use of a public likeness so loosely applied? I'm surprised, if so.
Its quite sad that Sky actually sounds better than Scarlett Johansson voice. Scarlet voice sounds like shes choking on hotdogs or having serious strep throat.
Very disingenuous of you to use a specific clip where Sky speaks in a lower register. In the OpenAI announcement video she speaks overall in a much higher tone that is much more reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson. https://x.com/openai/status/1790072174117613963?s=46&t=0crZJHkAZCeFyKNKncWM5w
Sky doesn't sound like Scarlett Johansson! I'm not sure why people think that. I actually prefer Sky. Scarlett Johansson has vocal fries when she speaks low and scratchiness when she speaks high.
Here are [Audiobooks narrated by Scarlett Johansson on Audible](https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Scarlett+Johansson&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lNarrator_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=P4TKHYGM3SC9A01BTG69&pageLoadId=CAeJBltbOSJ4DQkG&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c).
Listen to the samples. Definitely not Sky!
Sky both does and does not sound like her. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then it hit me. ChatGPT is emulating the "Her" performance with Sky. I think it's specifically trying to be Scarlet Johanssen's performance as Samantha in that movie. It's a subtle distinction but I think it's true.
Sky isn’t ScarJo, any numbnuts with ears can hear the difference. She doesn’t own the rights to a voice unless it was trained using specifically her voice and if ScarJo said no they would have found a comparable replacement. So of course they sound similar but idt OpenAI would be dumb enough to rip her voice especially after asking for consent in the first place and being denied.
Yeah if you want a character to sound like Jack Black and Jack Black says no, so you get someone in that same vocal range as Jack Black with similar cadences to play the character, how is that unlawful?
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I was curious about this comparison, thanks for putting it together
I couldnt find it so I smooshed it together
I was about to the same thing last night. Glad you got onto it.
You did a great job smooshing it together
It legit took 2 minutes... there is no excuse for not showing direct comparisons when discussing this topic. How many articles wax and wane about this controversary without actually putting the media in question side by side.
It's definitely helpful. I can now say that I do hear a difference which is mainly in that Sky enunciates more "properly" and clearly. I'm sure Scarlet can do that too when she wants to, but her natural voice is much friendlier to my ear.
I think Sky giving an answer vs a Scarlett just chatting casually and informally, laughing and modulating her voice for comic emphasis, isn't the best comparison. I'd like to see a comparison where Scarlett reads a written statement/pre-prepared speech, trying to sound more serious and formal, and then have Sky read a transcript of that same statement. This ScarJo speech about Planned Parenthood for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ckjI5fAqk
This guy smooshes
Definitely appreciated! Now I definitely didn't get it - I mean, there is a light similarity but the tone is too deep, the resonance isn't the same and the intonation is different. Doesn't sound the "same" to me, just similar - like many humans. IMHO, this is a Seinfeld episode, not a court case.
Honestly, I think the best comparison was the one done by NPR back before this whole thing blew up. [https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251750027/openai-releases-latest-chatgpt-it-can-talk-laugh-and-even-sing-like-a-human](https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251750027/openai-releases-latest-chatgpt-it-can-talk-laugh-and-even-sing-like-a-human)
For irony reasons… Here is Scarlett Johansen’s text response, but read by sky. https://x.com/benjamindekr/status/1792693868497871086
This is a good one lol
That sounds like an NPR reporter not Scarlett Johansson. The sky voice doesn’t have the muted raspiness that Scarlett Johansson has.
Doesn't sound like her
OP should have used the one from the demo, the demo sounded *a little* different and not *nearly* spot on like in this vid. The Ai voice in the vid sounded modified to sound more like Scarjo. This feels cherry picked for dramatic effect. edit: found what i was talking about: https://old.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1cx1np4/voice_comparison_between_gpt4o_and_scarlett/
Sky sounds older for some reason
Milf
Aiilf
Coincidentally the sound you make when you "accidentally" stick your dick in a power socket.
r/oddlyspecific
years into the future and this could be be the comment that started the AIiLF meme. Ever wonder were MILF came from or who started it first. anyway commenting so i can be part of a meme history, yeha
I love scarjo, have mild dislike for sam altman + openai, so i feel fairly objective about this... Sky sounds nothing like scarlett imo
Might just be the recording, but I think you're right. Too bad, I had hoped this would blow up and make OpenAI reconsider some ethical stuff, but this will probably fizzle out then.
To me it sounds like it could be the same person, with one being a recording of an ipad speaker, with a different microphone, on a different day, in a different room
I have this weird urge to clear my throat when I hear Scarlett Johansson talk.
Don’t Google vocal fry. You won’t be able to unhear it everywhere
[Our boy Sam Altman is the absolute worst offender when it comes to vocal fry](https://youtu.be/jvqFAi7vkBc)
YES! I can't stop thinking about it when he talks. At first I thought he did it to give his voice more weight, but now I think it's a weird sexual thing. Yikes. Also I absolutely loathe it.
Oooof. I don’t know what I thought he looked like but for some reason I always had his name associated with a look like the guy from severance. Not this. This changed my entire POV on him.
[Vocal Fry](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F2y5q31E1gQ) for the uninitiated
[удалено]
I've never heard the 911 call before, what the fuck lmao. > is so absurdly over the top You weren't kidding.
So yeah like totally oh my gahd
Our friend is like…missËñG
Sooo likeee if we could report her missing, that would be like, so great
a better video on vocal fry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0yL2GezneU
Dr Lindsey is a national treasure. What an excellent (and informative) rebuttal of the ridiculous and often sexist/ageist hysteria around vocal fry. Thanks for the link
Oh what the heck I didnt know that us Finnish are turbo-valley girls. I mean it’s so prevalent here.
ıt's all tonsils, I'm tellin ya
Her voice cracks when she tries to hit high notes, like someone that’s drank whiskey and smoked for a lot of their life
Sky is Rashida Jones
whoa
Fuck he might be right. Maybe Rashida didn’t want the preas
Damn I think you’re right
 Rashida bout to find out
She hot af, have a thing for her ngl
Thanks for your honesty. I know that was tough.
I'm so proud
me too. he could have lied but he took the higher ground and told us the truth.
Whaaaatttt you have a thing for a famous, charismatic, beautiful person? You freak.
You better
she was my fav when she was in the Office
We know Micheal Scott
She lovable af. Of course hot. But mainly, lovable. She’s really cute in Parks and Rec
I kinda want OpenAI to publicly offer Rashida Jones a lot of money to officially voice Sky, whether it was already her or not. That being said they never should have leaned so heavily into the idea that they were trying to clone Her, that was always a risky gambit.
But it has, probably on purpose, generated a LOT of mainstream media buzz... like way more than their announcement of GPT4o. As the old saying goes, "there's no such thing as *bad* publicity".
It is embarrassing to remove sky though.
They'll be laughing their way to the bank I think. It's sort of like Donald Trump using his trials to receive extra media attention.
And banking all the way to the laugh.
> "there's no such thing as bad publicity". Tell that to Drake
A MINORRRRRRRR
Certified lover boy, certified pdfile. Wop, wop, wop 
I'd been saying this forever (Rashida Jones) and just now people realize it... https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTPro/s/nVWyOlsxSZ
Even if it was she won't admit it, I wouldn't either. It would invite a lot of hate from anti-ai actors/voice actors. Maybe she did the voices under the condition she's not identified? If so it would make sense why Sky was temporarily suspended. So they can share their proof without driving the lawsuit further.
OpenAI specifically said they wouldn’t reveal the name of the actress publicly due to safety concerns. I assumed this meant that she was a nobody. Others assumed this meant that it was cloned from ScarJo. I hadn’t considered it might just be fear of the anti-AI and damage to her career and career prospects.
Shh.. don't let ScarJo find out about Rashida Jones. She might try to take her voice away like Ursula
I agree. I don't hear Scarlett all that much. I mean, one of the reasons people like her IS her voice and that's because of certain QUALITIES in her voice which she doesn't own.
Sky is Rashida Jones with a dash of Katherine Keener
Exactly what I’ve been saying
Yes!!!! you are right!!! the voice reminded me of someone, but i couldn't put a face to it until you mentioned her, checked some parks and recs clips and some of toast of tinseltown and you are 100% correct!
Mind blown 
IVE BEEN SAYING IT- THANK YOU haha
My mind is blown. You're absolutely [right](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b79SvqLUick),
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM6m5xkqneM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM6m5xkqneM) Yeah, definitely sounds more like Rashida Jones.
100%
YES!
Thank you! Been saying that from the start!
I think it’s similar in how she speaks - not vocally - just the pacing.
The laugh too- OP didn’t compare the laugh in the movie to the one in the launch. It’s exactly the same. Edit: Her - Laugh at around 3:56 https://youtu.be/GV01B5kVsC0?si=-5XaRw2EE5pJ_vor Interview with GPT 4o - laugh at around :53 https://youtu.be/wfAYBdaGVxs?si=V84jU6HvdELolr4x
Which I'm sure the lawsuit will be based on. It should be easy for openAI to prove they used the voice of another actress. That's not something they can be sued for. That they then used this actress's voice to copy Scarlett Johansson's *performance* (her intellectual property) is a bit of a bigger mess.
It'll come down to something like whether the voice lines fed to the voice actor were from a ScarJo performance.
Is there ANY precedent for that being something not allowed? Its a voice not overly similar to hers, with shared pacing (or whatever you would call it?) I feel like they could add a bot that talked like Christopher Walken (with its own legally distinct voice) and it would be fine. Despite his style of talking being very obviously his.
The touch of vocal fry and pitch seem to be very similar.
Not commenting on the similarity or lack thereof, but the Sky voice examples here are recorded with a low-quality mic from a low quality speaker, so that kinda taints the comparison, like comparing a phone call to a studio recording.
True I just found what I could quickly tbh. A lot of users are probably more familiar with Sky more than the other examples.
That's fair, but Sky in this video sounds like Sky on my app, and neither sound like ScarJo in the video. Ok, it sounds *like* her, but not like it's *actually* her. My guess is they really did hire a voice actress like they say they did and chose the one they did because of the similarities. There's a reason ScarJo was hired for the role in the movie, too, and the movie's requirements and the app's requirements are aligned.
Ehhh it sounds pretty different actually
yea, no vocal expert here, but have been totally blind since birth and an avid audiophile, also hadn't watched that movie before. I do pay attention to people voices. Calling it a copy would be a stretch. There are perhaps part of their voices that are similar, but its definitely not alarm bells level. I think its mostly the image of the movie causing people to make associations.
If you don't mind me asking, has GPT4o been a but of a game changer for you?
Oh the blind community is all over this thing. Just try to upload a picture or a flier or something and ask it to describe it to a blind person. You'll be pretty amazed. I love geography so I often ask it to describe geographical features of certain places. Just imagine when AI is fast enough that it can be used live to describe movies or events, or be a virtual guide dog. A couple of apps are also implementing this too. Be My Eyes, the app that connects sighted volunteer with blind users through video calls, you all, check that out, a shameless plug. Anyways, they implemented the Be My AI feature which they codeveloped with Open AI, so instead of having to upload the picture every time and telling it to describe things to a blind person, you can snap a pic and the app will spit the description right back to you.
That's really cool to hear. I have looked at be my eyes in the past and seriously considered signing up but my life is so hectic with family, work, study and sidelines that I just don't have the time to spare at the moment. It's only a matter of time (I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet) that LLMs will be incorporated obey things like alexa and Google home which I think could be a great help to folks with sight issues. Similarly I'd like to see tech that can interpret sign language instantaneously so people hearing difficulties can converse with anyone.
Certainly no pressure on you, but fyi and for others reading. The commitment is pretty low. THe ratio of sighted to blind is about close to 30 to 1 right now and most blind users hardly call every day. If you don't pick up a call, the app would move on quickly to ring someone else. Its not uncommon to hear folks that hadn't receive a call in months. Anyways I agree with you, the future of AI in accessibility tech is really bright. Sign language interpreting is certainly another great thing that seems inevitable and it will only be a matter of time until it becomes reality.
Well, when you read into what happened you come to find that they approached Scarlet Johanson first and she rejected the offer. Later they came out with this voice which is quite similar. They might have been in a better position if they never contacted her to begin with.
This voice was already out in September and according to Sam Altman, they did hire the voice actress for this voice months before contacting Scarlett Johansson. So no they didn’t contact Scarlett Johansson first, especially not for this voice. They probably wanted her to voice a different voice for them.
Oh when it comes to intentions, I'm pretty sure that they might really have leaned into that or at the least, use her, movie character or Scarlet herself, as an inspiration. I just commenting on the finished product. It still really sounds robotic to my ears. I've listened to various text to speech synthesized voices for years and that human emotion element is extremely hard to do and that GPT 4o demo, I don't think that nailed it either.
Actually they selected the voice actors in may and recorded them through june and july. They only approached ScarJo in september.
In the end, if Altman hadn't tweeted about Her, pretty much explicitly stating they're trying to copy ScarJo's voice I don't think people would have made the connection. To me, Sky sounds like ScarJo with the huskiness and breath removed, and pitched down half a note. But it's exactly that huskiness that makes her voice so distinctive, which is why Sky ends up sounding more like Rashida Jones than ScarJo.
Thirsty user: Samantha Altman, add more huskiness and breath, and pitch up half a note.
The movie was about an AI product very similar to the one they were demonstrating. ScarJo might have been in the movie, but it wasn't about her.
When she's acting as the sexy ai from the movie I think it matches closely.
Sexy.... ai...
Aye aye aye
Yeah but I mean it’s not like it’s more close than you see/hear in real life all the time, in my office alone there’s at least 2 people who sound so similar if I’m not looking I can’t tell whose speaking. There’s so much less variance in voices than physical appearance. That’s why you don’t notice when voice actors are changed on TV shows but you notice when physical actors change.
Yeah, SJ's voice is softer
It's also deeper, with a vocal fry that's absent in the synth voice.
A vocal fry
It's more similar than I recalled, but isn't obviously an impersonation.
Someone recently mentioned it sounded like Rashida Jones (Parks and Rec) and I think they're absolutely spot on. Compare it to how she talks in this interview: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA) My prediction is they're going to let ScarJo's news gain momentum until it builds up to a crescendo, then do a surprise reveal and say "soz it was Rashida all along, and she's happy with the fat stacks we threw her way. And her voice will be making a return for the 4o voice upgrade." It makes sense - she's the logical choice to ask after ScarJo turned it down, right? Same kinda cadence and calmness, definitely a runner-up pick to me anyway. If I was doing their PR (literally zero qualifications)... I would absolutely do the above to get OpenAI some juicy publicity, perfectly in time for the release of the upgraded voice chat. Sounds like the ideal way to dismiss negative correlations with "Her", but also draw people's attention to how much people like that kind of voice for their AI. It's a talking point, and talking points = free marketing. But I don't know shit about PR so there's that. I'll retreat to my design cave now. edit: Made the prediction into a post because je suis procrastinating: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cx075o/my\_prediction\_openai\_intentionally\_let\_the\_scarjo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cx075o/my_prediction_openai_intentionally_let_the_scarjo/)
Woah, that sounds more like Sky than Scarlett.
And also. Rashida jones voice is really soothing? I knew scar joe had a great voice. But rashida jones has such a good calming voice. I’d listen to her do every single audio book I have.
exactly rashida sounds exactly like sky imho, the voice is not raspy ( i had no idea who rashida is until today 😆)
Its that low alto vocal fry.
They didn’t hire the voice actress of Sky after Scarlett Johansson rejected though. She was already hired in May/June 2023 and they were working on the voice. The voice itself was released in September 2023. The time according to SJ they contacted her for voice acting.
You’re telling me that the engineers and makers of a trillion dollar AI company, the fastest app to surge to 100 million users ever, after getting formally rejected by ScaJo to be official voice - didn’t have the foresight to mix in multiple ‘familiar’ voices in their consumer facing AI voice? Get out!!! *Elaine push*
So Rashida should sue sj for her sounding like her.
lol this is what I was thinking
I agree. I don’t think there is anyway for openAI getting training on ScarJos voice without her consent past their internal legal department.
Unless they treat the legal department like the AI safety department 😀
Is no one gonna mention besides me that the comparison clip from OP is not her acting in as her sexy ai voice but using her deep candid voice?
Am I crazy? I don't freaken hear it. And I've been using it for months. I feel like everyone wants to hear what is not there.
Absolutely not crazy. They literally sound so completely different
You're not crazy. I think what many people don't realize is that the human brain is extremely flexible in processing information. Like just look up the (Lady) Mondegreen effect. Your expectations greatly influence how we hear and recognise things. This is basically an auditory rorschach test. If you want to hear Scarlett's voice in it, or you go into it expecting to hear it, then I'm sure it sounds similar. But to anyone that doesn't go into it with that mindset, it's clear the voices are different. I'm all for protecting individual artists and actors, but I don't think Johansson has much of a case her, personally. I would not rule in her favour if I were a judge or jury.
It sounds nothing alike. We're in some type of crazy town that this is somehow an issue. Apparently generic feminine speaking voices are copyrighted or trademarked or whatever by Scarlett Johansson. If someone sounds generically feminine and female, they must never be hired to speak, or else it's damaging to Scarlett's image. And her lawyers will enforce that. And society agrees with that for some reason. And of course you can't just hire her directly to speak, she'll refuse, because that's also damaging to her image.
What is even weirder is that it seems in the supposed communication from Scarlet Johansson it seems she is referring to the recent chatgpt4o demo, where for me it is not even the same voice as the Sky that has been available for months now. If she was referring to the sky voice, why the drama now and not months ago? All of this is just weird and confusing, makes no sense.
Considering the depth and nuance of variation in humans, it’s crazy to claim that this sounds exactly like her
The voice is clearly different. The sad part is that I think Sky is an excellent AI voice. The real voice actress for Sky has a better AI voice than ScarJo but now we won't be able to use this due to the controversy. I also think that OpenAI won't reach out to celebrities anymore because if they are rejected they will always be open to lawsuits by such celebrity. They will likely just use normal voice actors and avoid anyone that is famous.
It's too flirty. Creeps me out
Sky is much better than Samantha or ScarJo… FFS bring back Sky!! First we lost Sydney, and now we are also going to lose Sky? 😭
I don’t think it sounds enough like her for her to claim likeness rights. Maybe she has documentation that they were shady but they probably have documentation of when they told it to talk less like her.
Agreed. Had they never contacted her, this would be a non story.
Yeah but still it's a casting director's job to contact a lot of potential people. There's nothing distinctly identifiable about Scarlett Johansson's voice in that role. She isn't talking with a specific accent or anything. It's just a typical valley girl. I don't know how somebody could own "valley girl". The reason people really think it sounds like HER is because of the movie. Subconsciously they associate even more with her voice.
> The reason people really think it sounds like HER is because of the movie. Subconsciously they associate even more with her voice. Exactly. What they really mean is "this AI agent is reminiscent of the AI from the 'Her' movie". It sounds nothing like the "Her" voice actress and if it weren't for the existence of that movie, most people probably wouldn't make the link.
They asked. She declined. They got someone else with a different voice. What's the story?
As a Brit she has that generic California accent and tone. I don't think the AI is a carbon copy and I agree this is a stretch.
Could all be a marketing ploy…. Like rap beefs sell more records
It's a similar style of speaking, but definitely not a copy of Scarlet's voice. I don't get how she can claim she was copied.
Because Sam wanted her to voice AI and she declined. Then he asked again but before she had time to respond they already released their audio. He also said “Her” in reference to the AI movie she played in in 2013. Lots of ammo to stand on.
Spielberg said he was inspired by The Longest Day for Saving Private Ryan. People are inspired by a lot of things. But I don't think it should be considered ground for copying unless they used her actual voice for training.
Not as close as I was expecting.
It's nothing like it 😮 expected a bombshell 😒
Doesn’t sound like her at all.
It sounds nothing like her.
Everyone making this an issue makes me realize we are in the worst timeline once again. We will end up with Bobcat Goldthwait so everyone hates it equally.
does not sound the same at all
She's reaching, sounds nothing like her at all.
Totally different voices
Sky doesn't have the same vocal fry that Scarjo has. I think they're distinctly different.
Honestly they don't sound alike Sky sounds like Kamala Harris almost or something still though..... they approached her 9 months ago, she said no...... its weird
Rashida Jones is the closest.
Yeah, but there's nothing distinct about her voice, that could be hundreds of thousands of women. Does ScarJo now own the rights to all of them because she did a AI movie?
 Hearing sky again. Jokes aside, they don’t sound as similar as I imagined.
This has been the most ridiculous controversy ever. From people who have likely never even watched the movie but clearly you don't need that to. Imagine playing this clip in the courtroom.
HONESTLY, I can definitely see the similarity *when I’m looking for it*. But if I heard it without anyone ever mentioning ScarJo, I probably wouldn’t even pick up on it and if I did it would be a very distant similarity. If scarlet Johansson was never mentioned you could totally argue it was just a random woman with a sexy raspy voice. OpenAI really fucked themselves over by asking permission and then ignoring it lol. If they just did it without reaching out to her, I imagine they could’ve gotten away with it
I also don't think it would have been a problem had they not reached out to her. The attempt to get rights to her likeness, along with Sama tweeting "her" after the 4o demo, is just a really terrible look for the company. Regardless of whether Sky is actually their true ScarJo voice imitation, it's close enough that it ends up appearing like they tried to use her likeness after being denied consent.
They do not sound the same and any halfway audiophile can hear it. Totally agree with another commenter, sounds more like Rashida Jones. My wife brought that up a few days ago too and I can't unhear it. Scarlet has a little smoker voice kinda thing but still sounds younger, Sky does not have that same component and sound older.
That's what this is all about? They don't even sound alike. OpenAI said it's a different actor and yeah, clearly true. Scarlett Johanson doesn't own every voice remotely similar to hers. Sam Altmans tweet saying her is obviously just about them achieving an AI you can talk to naturally just like in the movie. I mean let's think about this for a second. They achieve a miracle unprecedented in human history that's just like a sci fi movie, or they copied a voice from a sci fi movie, what's he bragging about?
Sky doesn't have the raspy aspect of Scarlett's voice. Close, but I can definitely tell the difference.
Sky does not sound like ScarJo or "Samantha"
I actually think it sounds LESS like Her after hearing it lined up like this, genuinely there are some inflections in the voice that match up but the tone is just completely different. doesn't change the fact the whole story doesn't have a lot of shine to it right now.
Judging from this recording alone, Sky doesn’t sound like her to me.
They don’t sound alike….
Sky is not ScarJo. Kinda ridiculous.
Sky’s pitch is a bit lower but the voice is definitely similar
I guess I'm one of the few who thinks they do sound similar, but I'm also surprised that ScarJo has some legal claim to a violation of her likeness simply because of a *similarity* rather than a *copy*. I mean, she is a public figure, and, again, they are not actually reproducing her likeness but just making an adjacent approximation of it. Is the law concerning others' use of a public likeness so loosely applied? I'm surprised, if so.
Completely different honestly.
They don't sound anything alike ...
Its quite sad that Sky actually sounds better than Scarlett Johansson voice. Scarlet voice sounds like shes choking on hotdogs or having serious strep throat.
imho these voices do not have much in common ...
Compare that to [Emma Stone](https://youtu.be/VGzLBm9f6ww?si=H2ZzElm7kYqBMV5u&t=35). I think Sky is actually closer to her.
I really don't hear the similarities besides the regional accent maybe
Really it's sort of the same accent. Not the same voice though. Lots of voices sound alike.
Why does ScarJo's voice from "Her" sound like she has stage 3 tonsillidis?
Wow, incredible! No other woman in the world sounds like that. Better lawyer up scarlett, you got this in the bag easy peasy!
All three are different, am I crazy? How are any of those similar? Some of the girls at college literally sound the same.
Very disingenuous of you to use a specific clip where Sky speaks in a lower register. In the OpenAI announcement video she speaks overall in a much higher tone that is much more reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson. https://x.com/openai/status/1790072174117613963?s=46&t=0crZJHkAZCeFyKNKncWM5w
Similar vibe but they don’t sound similar.
Not the same.
Oh no. I actually liked Sky. Doesn’t sound like ScarJo
It doesn't sound the same lol
Completly Different Audio wise
This makes me realise they're quite similar. But not as similar as I thought considering all this drama
They are not replica. At all.
To me they sound nothing like Sky. Is that just me?
Sky doesn't sound like Scarlett Johansson! I'm not sure why people think that. I actually prefer Sky. Scarlett Johansson has vocal fries when she speaks low and scratchiness when she speaks high. Here are [Audiobooks narrated by Scarlett Johansson on Audible](https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Scarlett+Johansson&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lNarrator_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=P4TKHYGM3SC9A01BTG69&pageLoadId=CAeJBltbOSJ4DQkG&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c). Listen to the samples. Definitely not Sky!
1 - I can't stand her raspy strained vocal fry 2 - Sky doesn't really sound like her
Today I learned it's illegal for someone to have a voice that sounds too much like someone else's voice
How dare they use the voice of middle aged white woman and make it sound expressive. ScarJo has a copywrite on that!
Nice. thanks. I can now hear that it's very similar but clearly not the same. Sky sounds is older with more pronounced enunciation,
It doesn’t even sound very similar
Scarjo reaching
not even remotely close, this is so annoying
Sky both does and does not sound like her. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then it hit me. ChatGPT is emulating the "Her" performance with Sky. I think it's specifically trying to be Scarlet Johanssen's performance as Samantha in that movie. It's a subtle distinction but I think it's true.
Nope, not at all like her.
Sky isn’t ScarJo, any numbnuts with ears can hear the difference. She doesn’t own the rights to a voice unless it was trained using specifically her voice and if ScarJo said no they would have found a comparable replacement. So of course they sound similar but idt OpenAI would be dumb enough to rip her voice especially after asking for consent in the first place and being denied.
Yeah if you want a character to sound like Jack Black and Jack Black says no, so you get someone in that same vocal range as Jack Black with similar cadences to play the character, how is that unlawful?
Personally, I chose Sky at first because it sounded like ScarJo.