5 ms·

Exactly. Lots of voices sound like other peoples’ voices. We aren’t that unique. SJ doesn’t get to own the voice rights to everyone that sounds at all like her

Exactly. Lots of voices sound like other peoples’ voices. We aren’t that unique. SJ doesn’t get to own the voice rights to everyone that sounds at all like her just because she is famous.

taytus 2y ago
What about the back and forth trying to hire her, and she refusing? Sounds like: "Eh nevermind, we are going to use it anyway and BTW, I'm going to tweet 'HER' " You don't think that will have no weight whatsoever in a lawsuit?
- ComplexSystems 2y ago
  Not if they didn't actually use it, no.
  - nicce 2y ago
    We would not see these headlines, if they never asked her and never mentioned her. Then it would be just voice of some voice actress which might or might not sound like Scarlett.
  - CRConrad 2y ago
    But he DID tweet the ref to the movie, so that's settled.
nicce 2y ago
It is not about the voice. Rather using the fame of known actress to boost the product. If your inner motive is to sound like her because she is well-known, differences in voice does not matter much.
- JCharante 2y ago
  The voice was called Sky and OpenAI wasn't using her likeness to promote the voice or product. She isn't that well known, I didn't even know she was in Her. There's 1 billion English speakers, there are going to be voice overlaps.
  - nicce 2y ago
    The issue is that they contacted her and advertised based on her. They clearly wanted it to sound like her. Now, that it sounded like her, there is a reason to make conclusions about OpenAI's real motives.
    - talldayo 2y ago
      It's such an easy lesson to learn, here: if you are a founder or in any position where your speech relative to a product or service matters, get your ass off Twitter!
    - pseudosavant 2y ago
      How did they advertise this as being SJ? It is worth pointing out that Sky kind of sounded like the voice from Her, not SJ. The voice in Her is a voice SJ did for that movie. It isn’t her normal speaking voice. Does she get to own the likeness of every kind of voice she’s made, or could make?
      - emptyfile 2y ago
        [dead]
      - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
        > How did they advertise this as being SJ? Altman tweeted a reference to Her. (Literally just that text.)
        mwigdahl 2y ago
        And he could have meant a whole lot of different things by that, including the perfectly reasonable observation that the voice assistant tech is at parity with what we saw in _Her_. The assertion that this one tweet, in the absence of any other official communication, constitutes advertising the product to be voiced by Scarlett Johansson is a _huge_ stretch. I'm certain OpenAI would have been much happier with SJ as the voice actress. But how different does a female voice have to be to _not_ be considered an impersonation of someone?
apetrovic 2y ago
So if I have a company that sells, say, manure, I can search and hire a voice actress that sounds exactly like Scarlett to promote me in radio ads? And write a tweet that vaguely implies that it's really her?
- sebzim4500 2y ago
  Yes to the first bit, no to the second. I don't think a reasonable person would interpret Sam's tweet as claiming that Scarlett recorded the voice.
  - haiku2077 2y ago
    There's legal precedent against the first one. Tom Waits successfully sued Frito Lay after they used a Tom Waits soundalike in a commercial. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-09-me-238-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-09-me-238-st...
    - 93po 2y ago
      if i recall that only won because they contacted Tom first and he said no, which isn't what happened with OAI/SJ
foobar_______ 2y ago
Exactly. I barely know who this actress is. To me, it sounds like the tens of thousands of other white american voices. How is the remotely too similar?

Exactly. Lots of voices sound like other peoples’ voices. We aren’t that unique. SJ doesn’t get to own the voice rights to everyone that sounds at all like her just because she is famous.

taytus 2y ago

What about the back and forth trying to hire her, and she refusing? Sounds like: "Eh nevermind, we are going to use it anyway and BTW, I'm going to tweet 'HER' " You don't think that will have no weight whatsoever in a lawsuit?

ComplexSystems 2y ago
Not if they didn't actually use it, no.
- nicce 2y ago
  We would not see these headlines, if they never asked her and never mentioned her. Then it would be just voice of some voice actress which might or might not sound like Scarlett.
- CRConrad 2y ago
  But he DID tweet the ref to the movie, so that's settled.

nicce 2y ago

It is not about the voice. Rather using the fame of known actress to boost the product. If your inner motive is to sound like her because she is well-known, differences in voice does not matter much.

JCharante 2y ago
The voice was called Sky and OpenAI wasn't using her likeness to promote the voice or product. She isn't that well known, I didn't even know she was in Her. There's 1 billion English speakers, there are going to be voice overlaps.
- nicce 2y ago
  The issue is that they contacted her and advertised based on her. They clearly wanted it to sound like her. Now, that it sounded like her, there is a reason to make conclusions about OpenAI's real motives.
  - talldayo 2y ago
    It's such an easy lesson to learn, here: if you are a founder or in any position where your speech relative to a product or service matters, get your ass off Twitter!
  - pseudosavant 2y ago
    How did they advertise this as being SJ? It is worth pointing out that Sky kind of sounded like the voice from Her, not SJ. The voice in Her is a voice SJ did for that movie. It isn’t her normal speaking voice. Does she get to own the likeness of every kind of voice she’s made, or could make?
    - emptyfile 2y ago
      [dead]
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > How did they advertise this as being SJ? Altman tweeted a reference to Her. (Literally just that text.)
      - mwigdahl 2y ago
        And he could have meant a whole lot of different things by that, including the perfectly reasonable observation that the voice assistant tech is at parity with what we saw in _Her_. The assertion that this one tweet, in the absence of any other official communication, constitutes advertising the product to be voiced by Scarlett Johansson is a _huge_ stretch. I'm certain OpenAI would have been much happier with SJ as the voice actress. But how different does a female voice have to be to _not_ be considered an impersonation of someone?

apetrovic 2y ago

So if I have a company that sells, say, manure, I can search and hire a voice actress that sounds exactly like Scarlett to promote me in radio ads? And write a tweet that vaguely implies that it's really her?

sebzim4500 2y ago
Yes to the first bit, no to the second. I don't think a reasonable person would interpret Sam's tweet as claiming that Scarlett recorded the voice.
- haiku2077 2y ago
  There's legal precedent against the first one. Tom Waits successfully sued Frito Lay after they used a Tom Waits soundalike in a commercial. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-09-me-238-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-09-me-238-st...
  - 93po 2y ago
    if i recall that only won because they contacted Tom first and he said no, which isn't what happened with OAI/SJ

foobar_______ 2y ago

Exactly. I barely know who this actress is. To me, it sounds like the tens of thousands of other white american voices. How is the remotely too similar?