Tech

New ChatGPT voice sounds like Scarlett Johansson in ‘Her,’ gobsmacked users claim — and it may be on purpose 

It’s a love language model.

ChatGPT has unveiled a new state-of-the-art interface that allows users to visually show their surroundings to the artificial intelligence counterpart they are communicating with.

But even more “striking,” according to users, is the bot’s voice — which some say sounds like Scarlett Johansson’s digital character from the 2013 film “Her,” a modern-day romance between man (Joaquin Phoenix) and machine (Johansson).

Called GPT-4o or Omni, the vocal breakthrough brings a realistic, natural and conversational aspect to interacting with AI at a rate “which is similar to human response time in a conversation,” according to the company.

“The similarity between Her (2013) and GPT-4o (2024) is striking. Living in the future!” wrote one fan and AI lecturer on X.

A new AI program evokes Scarlett Johansson’s character from “Her.” AP
ChatGPT’s latest update has been compared to the 2023 sci-fi film. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Coincidence? Maybe not. It’s the favorite sci-fi movie of Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI.

Altman even leaned into the comparison with an X post on Monday that simply read: “her.”

Previously, he praised the Spike Jonze-directed blockbuster for how it portrayed the future interactions of humankind and AI.

“That was incredibly prophetic,” he said at Dreamforce 2023 in San Francisco last year.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a confessed lover of the movie “Her.” AP

The words Altman used to describe GPT-4o — the company said it is just “scratching the surface of exploring what the model can do” — were similar to his thoughts on the movie.

“It feels like AI from the movies, and it’s still a bit surprising to me that it’s real,” he wrote in a recent blog post.

“Getting to human-level response times and expressiveness turns out to be a big change.”