It was the voice interface of GPT-4o that was the real wow factor at its demo last week. This AI assistant sees you, hears you, talks to you. The latency is down, the humour is up. Flirtatiousness is fab. But one of the five voices being debuted sounded familiar to many. OpenAI chief posting “her” on his X account only made sure that even those who weren’t thinking about Her, would now do. Last year too Altman had tipped his hat to the 2013 movie, saying the things it got right – “like the whole interaction models of how people use AI” – was incredibly prophetic.
And then came the bombshell. Scarlett Johansson told the world that Altman had pursued a voice that sounded “eerily similar” in clear defiance of her wishes. She is a superstar. A big Hollywood brand. She is even above the Selena Gomez vs Hailey Bieber type of split vibes. Her fandom is global and consolidated. And still, OpenAI denied having used an imitation of her voice, before withdrawing it. Ordinary artistes, whose work and identities are also being hoovered up to raise AI, will meet very different fates. They will be out-litigated by Big Tech. Their only hope lies in collective bargaining. Here in India too, the Johansson fight should mean preparation for many more to come.
Johansson, of course, doesn’t appear in a single frame of Her. All the power of her performance is from her voice. Why do humans want an AI companion who trains on countless human voices, instead of an actual human companion? Answers run into tomes. But the fact is, more and more of us do. Even if this is a risky relationship. The more Big Tech personalises its companion products, the more they seduce – and more the problems.
This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
