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Wolves' Kilman reunites with Lopetegui at West Ham
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Schmidt reign off to winning start as Australia beat Wales 25-16
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Raducanu rediscovers Wimbledon 'fun' factor after turbulent spell
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Winning all that matters at Euro 2024 for Mbappe's minimalist France
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Eight dead, two million affected by Bangladesh floods
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Robertson pleased to 'find a way' past England in tough Test baptism
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Martin sets lap record to secure German MotoGP pole
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'Shattered' Germany set sights on World Cup after Euros exit
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Olympic hope Pedersen pulls out of Tour de France
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Djokovic eyes sweet 16 at Wimbledon as Swiatek takes on 'gangster'
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End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros KO
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New Zealand edge England 16-15 in tense, brutal first Test
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Turkey take on Dutch in politically charged Euros quarter-final, England face Swiss
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Calling for better ties with West, Iran reformist wins presidency
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Marsch relishing Canada's semi clash with Argentina
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Canada stun Venezuela on penalties to reach Copa semis
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Swiatek faces 'gangster' threat, Djokovic feels need for Wimbledon speed
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Portugal exit Euros with pride, will return stronger: Martinez
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UK's new PM Starmer speaks to world leaders, names top team
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Spain and France to face off in Euros last four, Turkey lament 'unfair' Demiral ban
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Israel says negotiators to hold fresh Gaza truce talks next week
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France beat Portugal on penalties to reach Euro 2024 semi-finals
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Beryl heads for Texas after causing damage, no deaths in Mexico
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Nagelsmann laments late penalty decision as hosts Germany exit Euros
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Biden declares he's all in ahead of high-risk TV interview
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Spain team 'is a winning horse', says De la Fuente
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Southgate turns on English 'entitlement' over claims of easy Euros draw
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Merino extra-time goal sends Spain past Germany to Euro semis
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OpenAI apologizes to Johansson, denies voice based on her
OpenAI chief Sam Altman apologized Tuesday to Scarlett Johansson after the movie star said she was "shocked" by a new synthetic voice released by the ChatGPT-maker, but he insisted the voice was not based on hers.
At issue is "Sky," a voice OpenAI featured last week in the release of its more humanlike GPT-4o artificial intelligence technology.
In a demo, Sky was at times flirtatious and funny, seamlessly jumping from one topic to the next, unlike most existing chatbots.
The technology -- and sound of the voice -- quickly drew similarities to the Johansson-voiced AI character in the 2013 film "Her."
Altman has previously pointed to the Spike Jonze-directed movie -- a cautionary tale about the future in which a man falls in love with an AI chatbot -- as inspiration for where he would like AI interactions to go.
He furthered speculation last week with a single-word post on X, formerly Twitter, saying "her."
"The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," Altman said in a statement on Tuesday in a response to the controversy.
"We cast the voice actor behind Sky’s voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson.
"Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky’s voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn't communicate better."
The statement came after Johansson on Monday expressed outrage, saying she was "shocked, angered, and in disbelief that Mr Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets couldn't tell the difference."
She said Altman had offered in September to hire her to work with OpenAI to create a synthetic voice, saying it might help people engaging with AI, but she declined.
- Risk team disbanded -
In a blogpost, the company explained that it began working to cast the voice actors in early 2023, "carefully considering the unique personality of each voice and their appeal to global audiences."
Some of the characteristics sought were "a voice that feel timeless" and "an approachable voice that inspires trust," the company said.
The five final actors were flown to San Francisco to record in June and July, it said, with their voices launched into ChatGPT last September.
"To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents," OpenAI said.
"We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice."
So far in the AI frenzy, most tech giants have been reluctant to overly humanize chatbots and some observers expressed concern that OpenAI's demo last week had gone too far.
Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi cautioned that AI "should not be human."
"It shouldn't breathe. You should be able to...understand (it) is AI," he told AFP.
The Johansson dispute came just days after OpenAI admitted it disbanded a team devoted to mitigating the long-term dangers of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI began dissolving the so-called "superalignment" group weeks ago, integrating members into other projects and research.
J.V.Jacinto--PC