OpenAI's flirty new GPT-4o is giving some people the ick
Some users have complained that ChatGPT's new voice unveiled on Monday is overly sexualized — and sounds like Scarlett Johansson in "Her."
Warner Bros. Pictures
- Some people are complaining that ChatGPT's new voice is too flirty.
- OpenAI debuted the updated version of the chatbot in a demonstration on Monday.
- The new voice has been compared to the AI from the 2013 film "Her," voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
ChatGPT has found its voice — but not everyone appears to like it.
On Monday, OpenAI debuted a new AI model called GPT-4o, which uses native audio inputs and outputs. When integrated into ChatGPT, users can have human-like conversations with the bot, speaking to it and showing it things.
The result is like having a futuristic AI best friend — or girlfriend — in your pocket.
The update quickly sparked parallels to Spike Jonze's 2013 film "Her," which portrays a writer, played by Joaquin Phoenix, falling in love with an artificial intelligence system voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Some even claimed the chatbot's new voice sounded like Johansson's.
Sam Altman weighed in on the social media chatter, seemingly citing the film as an inspiration for ChatGPT's new voice in an X post. The OpenAI CEO has previously cited Jonze's film as one of his favorites, calling it "incredibly prophetic."
However, some users have already been complaining that the voice is overly sexualized and flirty. One X user quipped:
Does anyone else feel that ChatGPT is trying a little too hard to be flirty?
— Zeff Muks — d/die (@zeffmuks) May 13, 2024
Elon Musk, unsurprisingly, led some of the criticism, saying the demo made him "cringe" and commented on a few posts about the bot's sexual tone.
The billionaire does have personal beef with OpenAI and its CEO, but he was far from the only one to be weirded out by ChatGPT's new voice.
"I imagine the least interesting use of GPT-4o is emulating an uncomfortably flirtatious, mildly condescending woman who you have to actively interrupt if you want to get a word in edgeways," designer Maggie Appleton said on X.
Another X user said the bot's voice resembled a "female character as written by men," calling it a "major ick."
Several, including New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose, urged AI bosses to watch all of Jonze's production, which (spoiler alert) does not have a happy ending.