The F/A-18 Mission computer incorporated speech in 1980. Digitized from a real voice. With audio cues like "Pull Up" when too close to the ground. Years later, pilots who had been saved by the gentle female voice wanted to know the name of the woman behind the voice. We tried to figure it out, but Gene Adams, the inventor, had passed away by then. Not sure we ever did get to the bottom of it.
On the specific case of OpenAI and Johansson, it's worth listening to back-to-back comparisons to judge for yourself whether Sky actually sounds like Johansson. Here are two examples:
I don't think there's enough caselaw to answer a question like this definitively, but the courts have definitely placed First Amendment limits on the right of publicity. So for example, if a game was depicting Obama or Trump to make some kind of political commentary I would expect that to be constitutionally protected.
The F/A-18 Mission computer incorporated speech in 1980. Digitized from a real voice. With audio cues like "Pull Up" when too close to the ground. Years later, pilots who had been saved by the gentle female voice wanted to know the name of the woman behind the voice. We tried to figure it out, but Gene Adams, the inventor, had passed away by then. Not sure we ever did get to the bottom of it.
Sorry, it sounds like you've been looking into this for a while and probably have seen this, but is this what you are talking about?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx7-yvXf6f8
That is her. They must have finally figured it out. I recall the conversation from 1998 or so.
On the specific case of OpenAI and Johansson, it's worth listening to back-to-back comparisons to judge for yourself whether Sky actually sounds like Johansson. Here are two examples:
- https://v.redd.it/qphc92w26p1d1
- https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1cx1np4/voice_comparison_between_gpt4o_and_scarlett/
To my ear, they sound distinctly different.
I would imagine that OpenAI could show something like a frequency mapping of the AI voice against the human voice to show that neither are equal.
Is there an exception for politicians? Surely a video game could include an Obama or Trump character without permission, right?
I don't think there's enough caselaw to answer a question like this definitively, but the courts have definitely placed First Amendment limits on the right of publicity. So for example, if a game was depicting Obama or Trump to make some kind of political commentary I would expect that to be constitutionally protected.
So are impressionists out of work now? Or does copying a voice only apply to AI's? ]lol]
How about soundboards?
https://www.101soundboards.com/tags/celebrities