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Did SNL's Scarlett Johansson Joke Lead to OpenAI Pausing Voice Mode?

Did SNL "Weekend Update" anchors Colin Jost & Michael Che's Scarlett Johansson joke help lead to OpenAI pausing ChatGPT's Voice Mode?

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Did Saturday Night Live co-head writers and "Weekend Update" anchors Colin Jost & Michael Che's "Joke Swap" get the attention of OpenAI? During the SNL season 49 finale this weekend, Jost and Che continued their tradition of writing jokes meant to make the other one look painfully bad – and feel even worse. With each edition, we learn more and more just how nothing is off limits – even wives. "ChatGPT has released a new voice assistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson's AI character in Her," Jost began the joke written by Che about Jost's wife, actress Scarlett Johansson. "Which I've never bothered to watch because without that body, what's the point of listening." Ouch. As you can see from the image below, Che scored major points on Jost with that one.

SNL
Image: SNL Screencap

For those of you needing some background on the joke, artificial intelligence company OpenAI recently offered a look-see at its new ChatGPT 4o model last week – one that included a video previewing its "Voice Mode" – an expressive voice meant to answer our questions. Though offering a number of voice options, a lot of folks took to social media to share how one of the voices was a little too similar to Johansson's actual voice – an interesting, ten-ton irony considering the actress took on the voice of an emotive AI in 2013's Her. Well, it looks like the reactions – and getting the not-so-high honor of being spotlighted by Jost and Che – were enough to get OpenAI to pause the Sky voice until those voice similarity issues can be cleared up.

"We've heard questions about how we chose the voices in ChatGPT, especially Sky. We are working to pause the use of Sky while we address them," OpenAI said in a statement shared in a company blog post. That said, the company also looked to make it clear that the voice many believed belonged to Johansson was actually from another actress. "We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice – Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice. To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents," the blog post added.

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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