isn't just a PR disaster (and a big one at that). It also reveals a troubling attitude about people's intellectual property — and even their voice. Most of all, it shows there's just really, really bad judgment going on at the highest levels of Sam Altman's company.
Let's say for ChatGPT instead of Altman's company hiring someone else to play the breathy, flirty female part. In this scenario, the voice would be not just vaguely reminiscent of the movie "Her" — a winky reference for those in the know — but literally an exact imitation of the movie, with Johansson playing the starring role. But .
.. stop for a second and imagine how truly stupid that idea would be from the start.
First of all, getting one of the highest-paid Hollywood actors to endorse your product is expensive. And getting her to reprise a role from 2013 is for what, exactly? Just a nerdy joke? Not even that many people saw "Her" (and I do worry ). Also, consider that maybe a voice assistant shouldn't necessarily be a sexy-breathy-flirty American female voice (yes, there are other voice options, but ).
It's giving " ." It would be funny for a Super Bowl ad — not to develop into the flagship product that you're also claiming will change the world. What actually happened, of course, was way worse.
Scarlett Johansson declined when Sam Altman asked her to lend her voice to ChatGPT back in September when the SAG strike was going on, CNN . Meanwhile, OpenAI hired a voice actress who the company said wasn't in.
