So they used AI to determine this? So I'm sure the result must be totally accurate.
What else does the article say? Hmmm let's see.
"The researchers found that Sky was also reminiscent of other Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway and Keri Russell. The analysis of Sky often rated Hathaway and Russell as being even more similar to the AI than Johansson."
Alright that proves it! Clearly this voice was based on Scarlett Johansson!
Many things are called “AI models” nowadays (unfortunately due to the hype). I wouldn’t dismiss the tools and methodology yet.
That said, the article (or the researchers) did a disservice to the analysis by not including a link to the report (and code) that outlines the methodology and how the distribution of similarities look. I couldn’t find a link in the article and a quick search didn’t turn up anything.
My washing machine has AI integrated. No joke. It says so on the sticker. What does it do? Analyze the weight of the load to determine the amount of time needed to wash, based on the selected cycle.
AI... Piss off, Samsung! And it'll never get connected online.
Scarlet doesn't own her whole spectrum of tone, nor do the directors of Her own the concept of a bubbly female assistant. I don't think this is defendable imo.
Tom Waits, IIRC, successfully sued the makers of a commercial for mimicking his voice, so there is precedent. And the fact that OpenAI reached out to her about using her voice, and that Altman tweeted the word "Her" on its own as a teaser of the product makes it pretty clear that they had knowledge and intent. I think she's likely to have a pretty solid case here if she chooses to pursue it.
The biggest thing to me is they yanked that voice super quick. Like the same day. That makes me think a lawyer yelled at their client for being dumb and the only defense we're going to get is, "it was an honest mistake, and we rectified it as soon as we were told. The voice was prepared because we thought the deal would go through. It should never have released."
So she has a solid case but damages will be minimal.
“Our analysis shows that the two voices are similar but likely not identical,” Berisha said.
They also point out the main differences between the two voices in the paragraphs below this quote. I do believe that they hired a voice actress and that they didn’t train on SJ’s voice, or at least not entirely. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was big push for finding a voice similar to SJ’s voice in Her, no matter how much they deny this.
Actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice bears a striking resemblance to OpenAI’s now-pulled “Sky” personal assistant, according to an artificial intelligence lab analysis conducted by researchers at Arizona State University.
The researchers measured Sky, based on audio from demos OpenAI delivered last week, against the voices of around 600 professional actresses.
The lab study shows that the voices of Sky and Johansson have undeniable commonalities – something many listeners believed, and that now can be supported by statistical evidence, according to Arizona State University computer scientist Visar Berisha, who led the voice analysis in the school’s College of Health Solutions and the College of Engineering.
Berisha said while the study analyzed a vast array of subtle vocal features, it also zoomed in on several particular dimensions of each voice and teased out some differences.
Altman himself amped up the speculation on the day of the release by posting on X one word, “her,” the name of the 2013 romantic sci-fi film in which a lonely man falls in love with a superintelligent computer operating system voiced by Johansson.
The company says he deferred to OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, who told NPR she didn’t even know what Johannson sounded like until people were comparing Sky to the actress.
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Anybody know if it is hard to make a synthetic voice, just like you can make a synthetic face or synthetic music? Or is that the point: that a synthetic voice ended up sounding like her?
It's just as easy. I was surprised to learn that they hired a voice actress. I guess hiring voice actors is cheaper than risking having to explain technology to a jury.
It sounds somewhat like her character from the movie Her to me, but based on the standards set by the entertainment industry it seems reasonable for her to lose the lawsuit. If you can't hire an actor for a role, you can get a voice actor to do a similar voice. This is done often in animation.
Crispin Glover's lawsuit against Back to the Future 2 could have set a precedent for image likeness, but he ended up settling, so it seems the industry is just avoiding this problem instead.
I wouldn't say nothing like her, it's uncomfortably close especially after being told no. But after the initial uproar, I was shocked how dissimilar it was when I actually heard it.
By reference do you mean somewhat similar sounding voice? This is status quo for voice acting. Do you think if someone tries to hire James Earl Jones for a voice part and he says no they throw their arms up, say fuck it and hire Megan Mullally? When hiring a voice actor you have a certain sound in mind you are going for and you take the closest thing your budget allows.
I do get off on how heated this whole debate has gotten with everyone picking the side of completely unrelatable rich people.
I'm waiting for a good AI generated porno with altman and johansen reaching forgiveness in the form of a passionate 69.