Meredith Whittaker is not holding again towards OpenAI.
In an interview with TechCrunch revealed on Friday, Whittaker was requested what she thought of allegations that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman requested Scarlett Johansson to offer her voice for the corporate’s AI assistant after which, after Johansson declined, launched a voice for his or her product that sounded much like the actor.
“It is similar to … ‘Edge Lord’ bullshit. It is so disrespectful. It is so pointless,” Whittaker advised TechCrunch.
She continued: “And it actually tears the veil on this mythology that you simply’re all critical folks on the apex of science constructing the subsequent Godhead, when it’s extremely clear that the tradition is dorm room high-jinks egged-on by a bunch of ‘Sure males’ who suppose each joke you say is humorous, as a result of they’re paid to try this, and nobody round there’s taking this management by the shoulders and saying ‘What the fuck are you doing!?'”
OpenAI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider on Whittaker’s interview.
Earlier within the week, Whittaker took to X, previously Twitter, to voice her opinions on the subject.
In response to an account reposting Johansson’s assertion accusing OpenAI of ripping off her voice, Whittaker wrote on Tuesday, “The sting lord disrespect, unprofessionalism, strategic blundering typical of precise determination making within the AI trade speaks infinitely louder than all of the voluntary security pledges ever may.”
“The truth is,” Whittaker continued, “These pledges serve primarily to spotlight how far the stroll is from the speak.”
OpenAI unveiled the “Sky” synthetic intelligence voice choice final week alongside an announcement in regards to the firm’s new GPT-4o giant language mannequin. Folks instantly started noting the voice’s similarity to Johansson’s, notably her efficiency within the 2013 movie “Her,” the place the actor performed an AI assistant that the principle character falls in love with.
On Monday, Johansson launched a press release alleging that Altman had beforehand approached her about voicing Sky, which she declined.
Altman has stated in a weblog put up that OpenAI didn’t intend for Sky’s voice to resemble Johansson’s, and that the voice belongs to a unique actress the corporate employed. However Altman had posted a single-word assertion on X after the product’s launch: “her.”
The corporate has paused utilizing the Sky voice in its merchandise, OpenAI stated.
